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EXPOSITIONS OF 
HOLY SCRIPTURE 


ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D., Litt. D. 


JOHN, JUDE, AND 
REVELATION 


INDEX 





THE S. S. SCRANTON COMPANY 
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 





CONTENTS 


THE EPISTLES OF JOHN 


PAGE 


FalTH CONQUERING THE WORLD (1 John v. 4) - . 1 
I1.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES (1 John v.18). . 12 
II.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES (1 John v.19). . 21 
IIl.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES (1 Johnv. 20). . 29 


Tae Last Worps OF THE Last AposTLE (1 John v. 20, 21) 38 


Grace, MERCY, AND Prace (2John3) . - . 47 
A ProsPERovs Sout (3 John2) . . : . 54 
For THE SAKE OF THE NamE (3 John 7) . . . 61 
FgLLOW-WoRKERS WITH THB TRUTH (3 John 8) . . 70 


Tus CHRISTIAN’s WITNESSES TO CHARACTER (3 John 12). 79 


v 


vi CONTENTS 


JUDE 
paca 
THE Common SALVATION (Jude 8) . ’ . e 87 
KEEPING OURSELVES IN THE Love or Gop (Jude 20, 21). wt 
WirHovut STUMBLING (Jude 24, 25). ° . . 106 
REVELATION . 
THE GIFTs OF CHRIST AS WITNESS, RISEN AND CROWNED 
(Rev. Lu 4, 5) . . . . . . 114 
OCarRist’s PRESENT LOVE AND Past LoosiInc FROM SINS 
(Rev. L 5) . . . . . © 126 
KINGS AND PRIESTS (Rev. i. 6) . ° : » 13 
THe Kine or GLory anpD LORD OF THE ONURCHES 
(Rev. i. 9-20) . a “ ° F «5 ee 


THE THREEFOLD Common HERITAGE (Rev. i.9,R.V.) . 150 


THE Living ONE WHO Became Drab (Rev. i. 18) - 16 


THe SEVEN STARS AND THE SEVEN OANDLESTICES 
(Rev.ii.1) . + » e e e 170 


I.—THe Vicror’s Lire-Foon (Rev. ii.7) . . . Is 





CONTENTS 


II.—TuE Vicror’s Lrre-Crown (Rev. ii. 11) ° ° 
IIL—Tue Victor’s Lirz-SEcrEtT (Rev. ii. 17) ° ° 
Tue First AND Last WoRKS (Rev. ii. 19) ° . 
IV.—THE VicToR’s LirE-POWER (Rev. ii, 26-28) . ° 


THe LORD OF THE SPIRITS AND THE Stars (Rev. iii. 1) . 


WALKING IN WHITE (Rev. iii. 4) . ° ° ° 
V.—Tus Victor's Lirr-Rosk (Rev. iii. 5) . ° ° 
KEEPING AND Kept (Rev. iii. 10) . ° e ° 
‘Tay CRown ’ (Rev. iii. 11). . . ° : 
VL—Tues Victor’s Lirs-Namss (Rev. iii. 12) . ° 
Laopicga (Rey. iii, 15,19) . . . ° . 


CuRisT’s COUNSEL TO A LUKEWARM CHUROH (Rev. iii. 18) 
CHRIST AT THB Door (Rev. iii. 20) . . ° Nis 


VII.—TxE Vicror’s SOVEREIGNTY (Rev. iii. 21). . 


215 


275 


312 


viii CONTENTS 


THE Seven Eves oF THE SLAIN Lams (Rev. v. 6) ° 
THE PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE (Rev. vii. 9) ° . 
THE Sone oF MosEs AND THE LAMB (Rev. xv. 2, 3) s 


THE NEW JERUSALEM ON THE NEW EARTH (Rev. xxi. 1-7; 


22-27) . ; ; : : . 


No More Szga (Rev. xxi. 1). . . . Fy 


THE CITY, THE CITIZENS, AND THE KING (Rev. xxii. 1-11) 


THE TRIPLE RAYS WHICH MAKE THE WHITE LIGHT OF 


HEAVEN (Rev. xxii. 3,4). ‘ . . 


THE Last BEATITUDE OF THE ASCENDED OBRIST 
(Rev. xxii. 14) : . : . . 
Curist’s Last INVITATION FROM THE THRONE (Rev. 


xxii, 17) e o . . . . 


i i et 


I. JOHN 


FAITH CONQUERING THE WORLD 


‘This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.’"—1 JouN v. 4 


No New Testament writer makes such frequent use of 
the metaphors of combat and victory as this gentle 
Apostle John. None of them seem to have conceived 
so habitually of the Christian life as being a conflict, 
and in none of their writings does the clear note of 
victory in the use of that word ‘ overcometh’ ring out 
so constantly as it does in those of the very Apostle of 
Love. Equally characteristic of John’s writings is the 
prominence which he gives to the still contemplation 
of, and abiding in, Christ. These two conceptions of 
the Christian life appear to be discordant, but are really 
harmonious. 

There is no doubt where John learned the phrase. 
Once he had heard it at a time and in a place which 
stamped it on his memory for ever. ‘Be of good cheer, 
I have overcome the world,’ said Christ, an hour before 
Gethsemane. Long years since then had taught John 
something of its meaning, and had made him to under- 
stand how the Master's victory might belong to the 
servants. Hence in this letter he has much to say 
about ‘overcoming the wicked one,’ and the like; and 
in the Apocalypse we never get far away from hearing 
the shout of victory, whether we consider the sevenfold 
promises of the letters that stand at the beginning of 
the visions, or whether we listen to such sayings as 

A 


2 I. JOHN [cH. Vv. 


this:—‘They overcame by the blood of the Lamb,’ or 
the last promise of all:—‘ He that overcometh shall 
inherit all things.’ 

Thus bound together by that link, as well as by a 
great many more, are all the writings which the tradi- 
tion of the Church has attributed to this great Apostle. 

But to come to the words of my text. They appear 
in a very remarkable context here. If you read a verse 
or two before, you will get the full singularity of their 
introduction. ‘This is the love of God,’ says he, ‘that 
we keep His commandments: and His commandments 
are not grievous. They are very heavy and hard in 
themselves; it is very difficult to do right, and to walk 
in the ways of God, and to please Him. His command- 
ments are grievous, per se; a heevy burden, a difficult 
thing to do—but let us read on:—‘They are not grievous, 
for whatsoever is born of God’—keepeth the com- 
mandments? No! ‘Whatsoever is born of God over- 
cometh theworld.’ That, thinks John, is the same thing 
as keeping God’s commandments. ‘This is the victory 
that overcometh the world, even our faith.’ Notice, 
then, first, What is the true notion of conquering the 
world ? secondly, How that victory may be ours. 

I. What is the true notion of conquering the world? 
Let us go back to what I have already said. Where 
did John learn the expression? Who was it that first 
used it? It comes from that never-to-be-forgotten 
night in that upper room; where, with His life’s 
purpose apparently crushed into nothing, and the 
world just ready to exercise its last power over Him 
by killing Him, Jesus Christ breaks out into such a 
strange strain of triumph, and in the midst of apparent 
defeat lifts up that clarion note of victory:—‘I have 
overcome the world !’ 


v.4) FAITH CONQUERING THE WORLD 38 


He had not made much of it, according to usual 
standards, had He? His life had been the life of a poor 
man. Neither fame nor influence, nor what people call 
success, had He won, judged from the ordinary points 
of view, and at three-and-thirty is about to be murdered; 
and yet He says, ‘I have beaten it all, and here I stand 
a conqueror!’ That threw a flood of light for John, 
and for all that had listened to Christ, on the whole 
conditions of human life, and on what victory and 
defeat, success and failure in this world mean. Notso 
do men usually estimate what conquering the world is. 
Not so do you and I estimate it when we are left to our 
own folly and our own weakness. Our notion of being 
victorious in life is when each man, according to his 
own ideal of what is best, manages to wring that ideal 
out of a reluctant world. Or, to put it into plainer 
words, a man desires, say, conspicuous notoriety and 
fame. He accounts that he has conquered when he 
scrambles over all his fellows, and writes his name, as 
boys do, upon a wall, higher than anybody else’s name, 
with a bit of chalk, in writing that the next winter's 
storm will obliterate! That is victory! The ultra- 
commercial ideal says, ‘Found a big business and 
make it pay.’ That is to conquer! Other notions, 
higher and nobler than that, all partake of the same 
fallacy that if a man can get the world, the sum of 
external things, into his grip, and squeeze it as one 
does a grape, and get the last drop of sweetness out 
of it into his thirsty lips, he is a conqueror. 

Well! and you may get all that, whatever it is, that 
seems to you best, sweetest, most needful, most tooth- 
some and delightsome—you may get it all; and ina 
sense you may have conquered the world, and yet you 
may be utterly beaten and enslaved by it. Do you 


4 I. JOHN (cu. v. 


remember the old story—I make no apology for the 
plainness of it—of the man that said to his commanding 
officer, ‘I have taken a prisoner.’ ‘Bring him along 
with you.’ ‘He won't let me.’ ‘Come yourself, then.’ 
‘I can’t’? So you think you have conquered the world 
when it yields you the things you want, and ail the 
while it has conquered and captivated you. 

You say ‘Mine’! It would be a great deal nearer 
the truth if the possessions, or the love, or the wealth, 
or the culture, or whatever else it may be, that you 
have set your desire upon, were to rise up and say you 
are theirs! Utterly beaten and enslaved many a man 
is by the things that he vainly fancies he has mastered 
and conquered. If you think of how in the process of 
getting, you narrow yourselves; of how much you 
throw away; of how eyes become blind to beauty or 
goodness or graciousness; of how you become the slaves 
of the thing that you have won; of how the gold gets 
into a man’s blood and makes his complexion as yellow 
as jaundice—if you think of all that, and how desperate 
and wretched you would be if in a minute it was all 
swept away, and how it absorbs your thoughts in 
keeping it and looking after it, say, is it you that are 
its master, or it that is yours? 

Now let us turn for a moment to the teaching of this 
Epistle. Following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ 
Himself, the poor man, the beaten man, the unsuccessful 
man, may yet say, ‘I have overcome the world.’ What 
does that mean? Well, it is built upon this—the world, 
meaning thereby the sum total of outward things, 
considered as apart from God—the world and God we 
make to be antagonists to one another. And the world 
woos me to trust to it, to love it; crowds in upon my 
eye and shuts out the greater things beyond; absorbs 


v.4] FAITH CONQUERING THE WORLD 5 


my attention, so that if I let it have its own way I have 
no leisure to think about anything butitself. And the 
world conquers me when it succeeds in hindering me 
from seeing, loving, holding communion with and 
serving my Father, God. 

On the other hand, I conquer it when I lay my hand 
upon it and force it to help me to get nearer Him, to 
get liker Him, to think more often of Him, to do His 
will more gladly and more constantly. The one victory 
over the world is to bend it to serve me in the highest 
things—the attainment of aclearer vision of the Divine 
nature, the attainment of a deeper love to God Himself, 
and of a more glad consecration and service to Him. 
That is the victory—when you can make the world a 
ladder to lift youto God. That is its right use, that is 
victory, when all its tempting voices do not draw you 
away from listening to the Supreme Voice that bids 
you keep His commandments. When the world comes 
between you and God as an obscuring screen, it has 
conquered you. When the world comes between you 
and God as a transparent medium, you have conquered 
it. To win victory is to get it beneath your feet and 
stand upon it, and reach up thereby to God. 

Now, dear brethren, that is the plain teaching of all 
this context, and I would lay it upon your hearts and’ 
upon my own. Do not let us be deceived by the false 
estimates of the men around us. Do not let us forget 
that the one thing we have to live for is to know God, 
and to love and to please Him, and that every life isa 
disastrous failure, whatsoever outward artificial ap- 
parent success it may be enriched and beautified with, 
that has not accomplished that. 

You rule Nature, you coerce winds and lightnings 
and flames to your purposes. Rule the world! Rule 


6 I. JOHN (cH. v. 


the world by making it help you to be wiser, gentler, 
nobler, more gracious, more Christ-like, more Christ- 
conscious, more full of God, and more like to Him, and 
then you will get the deepest delight out of it. Ifa 
man wanted to find a wine-press that should squeeze 
out of the vintage of this world its last drop of sweetest 
sweetness, he would find it in constant recognition of 
the love of God, and in the coercing of all the outward 
and the visible to be his help thereto. 

There are the two theories; the one that we are all 
apt to fall into, of what success and victory is; the 
other the Christian theory. Ah! many a poor, battered 
Lazarus, full of sores, a pauper and a mendicant at 
Dives’ gate; many a poor old cottager; many a lonely 
woman in her garret; many a man that has gone away 
from Manchester, for instance, unable to get on in 
business, and obliged to creep into some corner and 
hide himself, not having succeeded in making a fortune, 
is the victor! And many a Dives, fettered by his own 
possessions, and the bond-slave of his own successes, is 
beaten by the world shamefully and disastrously ! 
Pray and strive for the purged eyesight which shall 
teach you what it is to conquer the world, and what it 
is to be conquered by it. 

II. And now let me turn for a moment to the second 
of the points that I have desired to put before you, viz., 
the method by which this victory over the world, of 
making it help us to keep the commandments of God, 
is to be accomplished. We find, according to John’s 
fashion, a threefold statement in this context upon this 
matter, each member of which corresponds to and 
heightens the preceding. We read thus:—‘ Whatsoever 
is born of God overcometh the world.’ ‘This is the 
victory that overcometh the world, or more accurately, 


v. 4] FAITH CONQUERING THE WORLD 7 


‘hath overcome the world, even our faith.’ Who is 
he that overcometh the world? He that believeth 
that Jesus Christ is ‘the Son of God.’ Wherein there 
are, speaking roughly, these three statements, that 
the true victory over the world is won by a new life, born 
of and kindred with God; that that life is kindled in 
men’s souls through their faith; that the faith which 
kindles that supernatural life, the victorious antagonist 
of the world, is the definite, specific faith in Jesus as 
the Son of God. These are the three points which the 
Apostle puts as the means of conquest of the world. 

The first consideration, then, suggested by these 
statements is that the one victorious antagonist of all 
the powers of the world which seek to draw us away 
from God, is a life in our hearts kindred with God, and 
derived from God. 

Now I know that a great many people turn away 
from this central representation of Christianity as if 
it were mystical and intangible. I desire to lay it upon 
your hearts, dear brethren, that every Christian man 
has received and possesses through the open door of his 
faith, a life supernatural, born of God, kindred with 
God, therefore having nothing kindred with evil, and 
therefore capable of meeting and mastering all the 
temptations of the world. 

It is a plain piece of common-sense, that God is 
stronger than this material universe, and that what is 
born of God partakes of the Divine strength. But there 
would be no comfort in that, nor would it be anything 
germane and relevant to the Apostle’s purpose, unless 
there was implied in the statement what in fact is dis- 
tinctly asserted more than once in this Epistle, that 
every Christian man and woman may claim to be thus 
born of God. Hearken to the words that almost im- 


8 I. JOHN (cx. v. 


mediately precede our text, ‘ Whosoever believeth that 
Jesus is the Christ is born of God.’ Hearken to other 
words which proclaim the same truth, ‘To as many as 
received Him, to them gave He power to become the 
sons of God, which were born, not of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.’ He does come 
with all the might of His regenerating power into our 
poor natures, if and when we turn ourselves with 
humble faith to that dear Lord ; and breathes into our 
deadness a new life, with new tastes, new desires, new 
motives, new powers,making us able to wrestlewith and 
to overcome the temptations thatwere too strong for us, 

Mystical and deep as this thought may be, God's 
nature is breathed into the spirits of men that will 
trust Him! and if you will put your confidence in that 
dear Lord, and live near Him, into your weakness will 
eome an energy born of the Divine, and you will be 
able to do all things in the might of the Christ that 
strengthens you from within, and is the life of your 
life, and the soul of yoursoul. To the little beleaguered 
garrison surrounded by strong enemies through whom 
they cannot cut their way, the king sends reliefs, who 
force their passage into the fortress, and hold it against 
all the power of the foe. You are not left to fight by 
yourselves, you can conquer the world if you will trust 
to that Christ, trusting in whom God’s own power will 
come to your aid, and God’s own Spirit will be the 
strength of your spirit. 

And then there is the other way of looking at this 
same thing, viz., you can conquer the world if you will 
trust in Jesus Christ, because such trust will bring you 
into constant, living, loving contact with the Great 
Conqueror. There is a beautiful accuracy and refine- 
ment in the language of these three clauses which is 


v.4] FAITH CONQUERING THE WORLD 9 


not represented in our Authorised Version. The cen- 
tral one which I have read as my text this morning 
might be translated as it is translated in the Revised 
Version—‘ This is the victory that hath overcome the 
world, even our faith.’ By which I suppose the Apostle 
means very much what I am saying now, viz., that my 
faith brings me into contact with that one great 
victory over the world which for all time was won by 
Jesus Christ. I can appropriate Christ’s conquest to 
myself if I trust Him. The might of it and some 
portion of the reality of it passes into my nature in the 
measure in which I rely upon Him. He conquered 
once for all, and the very remembrance of His conquest 
by faith will make me strong—will ‘teach my hands to 
war and my fingers to fight.’ He conquered once for 
all, and His victory will pass, with electric power, into 
my life if I trust Him. I am brought into living 
fellowship with Him. All the stimulation of example, 
and all that lives lofty and pure can do for us, is done 
for us in transcendent fashion by the life of Jesus 
Christ. And all that lives lofty and pure can never do 
for us is done in unique fashion by the life and death 
of Him whose life and death are alike the victory over 
the world and the pattern for us. 

So if we join ourselves to Him by faith, and bring 
into our daily life, in all its ignoble effort, in all its 
little duties, in all its wearisome monotonies, in all its 
triviality, the thought, the illuminating thought, the 
ennobling thought, of the victorious Christ our com- 
panion and our Friend—in hoc signo vinces—in this sign 
thou shalt conquer! They that keep hold of His hand 
see over the world and all its falsenesses and fleeting- 
nesses. They that trust in Jesus are more than con- 
querors by the might of His victory. 


10 I. JOHN (cH. v. 


And then there is the last thought, which, though it 
be not directly expressed in the words before us, is yet 
closely connected with them. You can conquer the 
world if you will trust Jesus Christ, because your faith 
will bring into the midst of your lives the grandest and 
most solemn and blessed realities. Faith is the true 
anzesthesia of the soul;—the thing that deadens it to 
the pains and the pleasures that come from this fleet- 
ing life. As for the pleasures, I remember reading 
lately of some thinker of our own land who was gazing 
through a telescope at the stars, and turned away from 
the solemn vision with one remark,—‘I don’t think 
much of our county families!’ And if you will look 
up at Christ through the telescope of your faith, it 
is wonderful what Lilliputians the Brobdingnagians 
round about you will dwindle into, and how small the 
world will look, and how coarse the pleasures. 

If a man goes to Italy, and lives in the presence of 
the pictures there, it is marvellous what daubs the 
works of art, that he used to admire, look when he 
comes back to England again. And if he has been in 
communion with Jesus Christ, and has found out what 
real sweetness is, he will not be over-tempted by the 
coarse dainties that people eat here. Children spoil 
their appetites for wholesome food by sweetmeats; we 
very often do the same in regard to the bread of God, 
but if we have once really tasted it, we shall not care 
very much for the vulgar dainties on the world’s stall. 

Dear brethren, set your faith upon that great Lord, 
and the world’s pleasures will have less power over 
you, and as for its pains— 

‘There's nothing either good or bad, 
But thinking makes it so.’ 


If a man does not think that the world’s pains are of 


v.4) FAITH CONQUERING THE WORLD 11 


much account, they are not of much account. He who 
sees athwart the smoke of the fire of Smithfield, the 
face of the Captain of his warfare, who has conquered, 
will dare to burn and will not dare to deny his Master 
or his Master’s truth. The world may threaten in hope 
of winning you to its service, but if its threats, turned 
into realities, fail to move you, it is the world which 
inflicts, and not you who suffer, that is beaten. In the 
extremest case they ‘kill the body and after that have 
no more that they can do,’ and if they have done all 
they can, and have not succeeded in wringing the in- 
eantation from the locked lips, they are beaten, and 
the poor dead martyr that they could only kill has 
conquered them and their torments. So fear not all 
that the world can do against you. If you have gota 
little spark of the light of Christ’s presence in your 
heart, the darkness will not be very terrible, and you 
will not be alone, 

So, brethren, two questions:—Does your faith do 
anything like that for you? If it does not, what do 
you think is the worth of it? Does it deaden the 
world’s delights? Does it lift you above them? Does 
it make you conqueror? If it does not, do you think 
it is worth calling faith ? 

And the other question is: Do you want to beat, or 
to be beaten? When you consult your true self, does 
your conscience not tell you that it were better for you 
to keep God’s commandments than to obey the world? 
Surely there are many young men and women in this 
place to-day who have some desires high, and true, 
and pure, though often stifled, and overcome, and 
crushed down; and many older folk who have 
glimpses, in the midst of predominant regard for the 
things that are seen and temporal, of a great calm, 


12 I. JOHN (cH. ¥. 


pure region away up there that they know very little 
about. 

Dear friends, my one word to you all is: Get near 
Jesus Christ by thought, and love, and trust. Trust to 
Him and to the great love that gave itself for you. 
And then bring Him into your life, by daily reference 
to Him of it all: and by cultivating the habit of think- 
ing about Him as being present with you in the midst 
of it all, and so holding His hand, you will share in His 
victory; and at the last, according to the climax of 
His sevenfold promises, ‘To Him that overcometh will 
I give to sit down with Me on My throne, even as I also 
overcame, and am sat down with My Father oa His 
Throne.’ 


I—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 


‘We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begottes 
ef God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.’—1 Jon yv. 18. 
JOHN closes his letter with a series of triumphant cer- 
tainties, which he considers as certified to every Chris- 
tian by hisown experience. ‘ We know that whosoever 
is born of God sinneth not . . . we know that we are of 
God ...and we know that the Son of God is come.’ 
Now, that knowledge which he thus follows out on 
these three lines is not merely an intellectual convic- 
tion, but it is the outcome of life, and the broad seal of 
experimental possession is stamped upon it. Yet the 
average Christian reads this text, and shrugs his 
shoulders and says, ‘Well! perhaps I do not under- 
stand it, but, so far as I do, it seems to me to say a 
thing which is contradicted by the whole experience of 
life.’ ‘We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth 
not’; and some of us are driven by such words, and 


v.18] L—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 18 


parallel ones which occur in other places, to a pre- 
sumptuous over-confidence, and some of us to am 
equally unscriptural despondency; and a great many 
of us to laying John’s triumphant certainty up upon 
the shelf where the unintelligible things are getting 
eovered over with dust. 

So I wish, in this sermon, to try, if I can, to come to 
the understanding, that in some measure I may help 
you to come to the joyful possession, of the truth which 
lies here, and which the Apostle conceives to belong to 
the very elements of the Christian character. 

I. First, then, I ask the question—of whom is the 
Apostle speaking here ? 

‘We know that whosoever is born of God’—or, as the 
Revised Version reads it, ‘begotten of God’—‘ sinneth 
not.’ Now we must go back a little—and sometimes to 
go a long way from a subject is the best way to get at 
it. Let me recall to you the Master's words with which 
He all but began His public ministry, when He said to 
Nicodemus, ‘Except a man be born again he cannot see 
the kingdom of God.’ There is the root of all that this 
epistle is so full of, the conception of a regeneration, a 
being born again, which makes men, by a new birth, 
sons of God, in a fashion and ina sphere of their nature 
in which they were not the sons of the Heavenly 
Father before that experience. Jesus Christ laid 
down, as the very first principle which He would insist 
upon, to a man who was groping in the midst of mere 
legal conceptions of righteousness as the work of his 
own hands, this principle,—there must be a radical 
change, and there must be the entrance into every 
human nature of a new life-principle before there is 
any vision, any possession of, or any entrance into, 
that region in which the will of God is supreme, and 


14 I. JOHN [cu. ¥. 


where He reigns and rules as King. John is only 
echoing his Master when he here, and in other places 
of this letter, lays all the stress, in regard to practical 
righteousness and to noble character, upon being born 
again, subjected to that change which is fairly par- 
alleled with the physical fact of birth, and has, as its 
result, the possession by the man who passes through 
it of a new nature, sphered in and destined to dominate 
and cleanse his old self. 

Then there is a further step to be taken, and that is 
that this sonship of God, which is the result of being 
born again, is mediated and received by us through our 
faith. Remember the prologue of John’s Gospel, where, 
as a great musician will hint all his subsequent themes 
in his overture, he gathers up in one all the main 
threads and points of his teaching. There he says, ‘To 
as many as received Him, to them gave He power to 
become the sons of God.’ Long years afterwards, when 
an old man in Ephesus, he writes down in this last 
chapter of his first epistle the same truth which he 
there set blazing in the forefront of his Gospel when he 
says, in the first verse of this chapter, ‘ Whosoever 
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.’ On 
eondition, then, of a man’s faith in Jesus Christ, there 
is communicated to him a new life direct from God, 
kindred with the Divine, and which dwells in him, and 
works in him precisely in the measure of his personal 
faith, That is the first point that I desire to 
establish. 

You will remember, I suppose, that this same concep- 
tion of the deepest result of the Christian faith being 
no mere external forgiveness of sins, nor alteration of 
@ man’s position in reference to the Divine judgments, 
but the communication of a new life-power and prin- 


v.18] IL—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 15 


ciple to him, is not the property of the mystic John 
only, but it is the property likewise of the legal James, 
who says, ‘Of His own will begat He us by the word of 
truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His 
creatures’; and it is set forth with great emphasis and 
abundance in all the writings of the Apostle Paul, who 
insists that we are sons through the Son, who insists 
that the gift of God is a new nature, formed in righ- 
teousness ‘after the image of Him that created Him,’ 
and who is ever dwelling upon the necessity that this 
new nature should be cultivated and increased by the 
faith and effort of its recipient. 

Keeping these things in mind, I take the second step, 
and that is that this new birth, and the new Divine life 
which is its result, co-exist along with the old nature 
in which it is planted, and which it has to coerce and 
subdue, sometimes to crucify, and always to govern. 
For I need not remind you that if the analogy of birth 
is to be followed, we have to recognise that that Divine 
life, too, like the physical life, which is also God’s gift, 
has to pass through stages; and that just as the perfect 
man, God manifest in the flesh, ‘increased in wisdom 
and stature, and in favour with God and man,’ so the 
Divine life in a soul comes to it in germ, and has its 
period of infancy and growth up into youth and man- 
hood. This Apostle puts great emphasis upon that idea 
of advancement in the Divine life. For you remember 
the long passage in which he twice reiterates the . 
notion of the stages of children and young men and 
fathers. So the new life has to grow, grow in its own 
strength, grow in its sphere of influence, grow in the 
power with which it purges and hallows the old nature 
in the midst of which it is implanted. But growth is 
not the only word for its development. That new 


16 I. JOHN [cH. v. 


nature has to fight for its life. There must be effort, 
in order that it may rule; there must be strenuous and 
eontinuous diligence, directed not only to strengthen 
it, but to weaken its antagonist, in order that it may 
spread and permeate the whole nature. Thus we have 
the necessary foundation laid for that which charac- 
terises the Christian life, from the beginning to the 
end, that it is a working out of that which is implanted, 
a working out, with ever widening area of influence, 
and a working in with ever deeper and more thorough 
power of transforming the character. There may be 
indefinite approximation to the entire suppression and 
sanctification of the old man; and whatsoever is born 
of God manifests its Divine kindred in this, that sooner 
or later it overcomes the world. 

Now, if all that which I have been saying is true— 
and to me it is undeniably so—I come to a very plain 
answer to the first question that I raised: Who is it 
that John is speaking about? ‘ Whosoever is born of 
God’ is the Christian man, in so far as the Divine life 
which he has from God by fellowship with His Son, 
through His own personal faith, has attained the 
supremacy in Him. The Divine nature that is in a man 
is that which is born of God. And that the Apostle 
does not mean the man in whom that nature is im- 
planted, whether he is true to the nature or no, is 
obvious from the fact that, in another part of this 
same chapter, he substitutes ‘whatsoever’ for ‘ whoso- 
ever,’ as if he would have us mark that the thing which 
he declares to be victorious and sinless is not so much 
the person as the power that is lodged in the person. 
That is my answer to the first question. 

II. What is asserted about this Divine life? 

‘Whosoever is born of God sinneth not.’ That is by 


v.18] I—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 17 


no means a unique expression in this letter. For, te 
say nothing about the general drift of it, we have a 
precisely similar statement in a previous chapter, twice 
uttered. ‘Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not’; 
‘whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for His 
seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is 
born of God.’ Nothing can be stronger than that. 
Yes, and nothing can be more obvious. I think, then, 
that the Apostle does not thereby mean to declare that, 
unless a man is absolutely sinless in regard of his 
individual acts, he has not that Divine life in him. For 
look at what precedes our text. Just before he has 
said, and it is the saying which leads him to my text, 
‘If any man seeth his brother sin a sin which is not 
unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life.’ 
So, then, he contemplated that within the circle of 
sons of God, who were each other's brethren because 
they were all possessors of that Divine birth, there 
would exist ‘sin not unto death, which demanded a 
brother's brotherly intercession and help. And do you 
suppose that any man, in the very same breath in 
which he thus declared that brotherhood was to be 
manifested by the way in which we help a brother to 
get rid of his sins, would have stultified himself by a 
blank, staring contradiction such as has been extracted 
from the words of my text? I say nothing about in- 
spiration; I only say common-sense forbids it. The 
fact of the matter is that John, in his simple, childlike 
way, does not wait to concatenate his ideas, or to show 
how the one limits and explains the other, but he lays 
them down before us, and the fact of their juxtaposi- 
tion limits, and he does not expect that his readers are 
quite fools. So he says in the one breath, ‘If any man 


see his brother sin a sin, and in the next breath, ‘Who 
B 


18 I. JOHN [CH. Vv. 


soever is born of God sinneth not.’ Surely there is a 
way to bring these two sayings into harmony. And it 
seems to me to be the way that I have been suggesting 
to you—viz., to take the text to mean—not that a Chris- 
tian is, or must be, in order to vindicate his right to be 
called a Christian, sinless, but that there is a power in 
him, a life-principle in him which is sinless, and what- 
soever in him is born of God overcometh the world 
and ‘sinneth not.’ 

Now, then, that seems to me to be the extent of the 
Apostle’s affirmation here; and I desire to draw two 
plain, practical conclusions. One is, that this notion of 
a Divine life-power, lodged in, and growing through, 
and fighting with the old nature, makes the hideous- 
ness and the criminality of a Christian man’s trans- 
gressions more hideous and more criminal. The 
teaching of my text has sometimes been used in the 
very opposite direction. I do not need to say anything 
about that. There have been people that have said 
‘It is no more J, but sin, that dwelleth in me; J am 
not responsible.’ There have been types of so-called 
Christianity which have used this loftiest and purest 
thought of my text as a minister of sin. Ido not sup- 
pose that there are any representatives of that carica- 
ture and travesty here, so I need not say a word about 
it. The opposite inference is what I urge now. In 
addition to all the other foulnesses which attach to 
any man’s lust, or lechery, or drunkenness, or ambition, 
or covetousness, this super-eminent brand and stigma 
is burned in upon yours and mine, Christian men and 
women, that it is dead against, absolutely inconsistent 
with, the principle of life that is bedded within us. 
And whilst all men, by every transgression, flout God 
and degrade themselves, the Christian man who comes 


v.18] I—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 19 


down to the level of living for flesh and sense and time 
and self, has laid the additional and heaviest of all 
weights of guiit upon his back in that he has done 
despite to the Spirit of grace, and grieved and contra- 
dicted and thwarted the life of God that is within 
him. The deepest guilt and the darkest condemnation 
attach to the sins of the man who, with a Divine life in 
his spirit, obeys the flesh. ‘To whomsoever much is 
given, of him shall much be required.’ 

Another consideration may fairly be urged as drawn 
from this text,and thatis that the one task of Christians 
ought to be to deepen and to strengthen the life of 
God, which is in their souls, byfaith. There is no limit, 
except one of my own making, to the extent to which 
my whole being may be penetrated through and 
through and ruled absolutely by that new life which 
God has given. 

**Tis life, whereof our nerves are scant, 
Oh life, not death, for which we pant; 
More life, and better, that I want.’ 
It is all very well to cultivate specific and sporadic 
virtues and graces. Get a firmer hold and a fuller pos- 
session of the life of Christ in your own souls, and all 
graces and virtues will come. 

III. Now, I have one last question—what is the 
ground of John’s assertion about him ‘that is born 
of God’? 

My. text runs on, ‘but he that is begotten of God 
keepeth himself. If any of you are using the Revised 
Version, you will see a change there, small in extent, 
but large in significance. It reads, ‘ He that is begotten 
of God keepeth him.’ And although at this stage of 
my sermon it would be absurd in me to enter upon 
exegetical considerations, let me just say in a sentence 


20 I. JOHN (on. v. 


that the original has considerable variation in expres- 
sion in these two clauses, which variation makes it 
impossible, I think, to adopt the idea contained in the 
Authorised Version, that the same person is referred 
to in both clauses. The difference is this. In the first 
elause, ‘He that is begotten of God’ is the Christian 
man; in the second, ‘He that is begotten of God’ is 
Christ the Saviour. 

There is the guarantee that ‘Whosoever is begotten 
of God sinneth not,’ because round his weakness is 
east the strong defence of the Elder Brother’s hand; 
and the Son of God keeps all the sons who, through 
Him, have derived into their natures the life of God. 
If, then, they are kept by the only begotten Son of the 
Father, who, that ‘He might bring many sons unto 
glory,’ has Himself worn the likeness of our flesh apart 
from sin, then the one thing for us to do, in order 
to nourish and deepen and strengthen, and bring to 
sovereign power in our poor natures that previous and 
enduring principle of life, is to take care that we do not 
run away from the keeping hand nor wander far from 
the only safety. When a little child is sent out fora 
walk by the parent with an elder brother, if it goes 
staring into shop windows, and gaping at anything 
that it sees upon the road, and loses hold of the 
brother's hand, it is lost, and breaks into tears, and can 
only be consoled and secured by being brought back. 
Then the little fingers clasp round the larger hand, and 
there is a sense of relief and of safety. 

Dear brethren, if we stray away from Christ we lose 
ourselves in muddy ways. If we keep near Him, as 
merchantmen in time of war keep near the men-of-war 
eonvoy, or as pilgrims across a dangerous desert keep 
elose to the heels of the horses of their escort, ‘ that 


v.18] II—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 21 


wicked one toucheth us not.’ And so we may be sure 
that ‘that which is born of God’ will come to the sove- 
reign power within us, and He that was born of the 
Spirit will cast out him that was born of the flesh. 


II.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 


“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.’— 

1 Joun v. 19, 
TuIs is the second of the triumphant certainties which 
John supposes to be the property of every Christian. 
I spoke about the first of them in my last sermon. It 
reads, ‘ We know that whosoever is born of God sin- 
neth not.’ Now, there is a distinct connection and 
advance, as between these two statements. The former 
of them is entirely general. It is particularised in my 
text; the ‘whosoever’ there is pointed into ‘ we’ here. 
The individuals who have the right to claim these pre- 
rogatives are none other than the body of Christian 
people. 

Then there is another connection and advance. 
*Born of God’ refers to an act; ‘of God’ to a state. 
The point is produced intoa line. There is still another 
connection and advance. ‘Whosoever is born of God 
sinneth not,’ ‘and that wicked one toucheth him not.’ 
That glance at a dark surrounding, from which he that 
is born of God is protected, is deepened in my text 
into a vision of the whole world as ‘lying in the 
wicked one.’ 

Now, I know that sayings like this of my text, which 
put into the forefront the Christian prerogative, and 
which regard mankind, apart from the members of 
Christ's body, as in a dark condition of subjection under 
an alien power, have often been spoken of as if they 


22 I. JOHN (ce. ¥. 


were presumptuous, on the one hand, and narrow, un- 
eharitable, and gloomy on the other. I am not con- 
eerned to deny that, on the lips of some professing 
Christian, they have had a very ugly sound, and have 
ministered to distinctly un-Christlike sentiments. But, 
on the other hand, I do believe that there are few things 
which the average Christianity of to-day wants more 
than a participation in that joyous confidence and 
buoyant energy which throb in the Apostle’s words; 
and that for lack of this triumphant certitude many 
a soul has been lamed, its joy clouded, its power tram- 
melled, and its workin the world thwarted. SoI wish 
to try to catch some of that solemn and joyous con- 
fidence which the Apostle.peals forth in these trium- 
phant words. 

I. I ask you, then, to look first at the Christian 
eertainty of belonging to God. 

‘We know that we are of God.’ Where did John get 
that form of expression, which crops up over and over 
again in his letter? He got it where he got most 
of his terminology, from the lips of the Master. For, 
if you remember, our Lord Himself speaks more than 
once of men being ‘of God.’ As, for instance, when 
He says, ‘He that is of God heareth God’s words. Ye 
therefore hear them not because ye are not of God.’ 
And then He goes on to give the primary idea that 
is conveyed in the phrase when He says, in strong con- 
trast to that expression, ‘Ye are of your father, and 
the lusts of your father ye willdo.’ So, then, plainly, 
as I said, what was a point in the previous certitude, is 
here prolonged into a line, and expresses a permanent 
state. 

The first conception in the phrase’is that of life 
derived, communicated from God Himself. Fathers 


v.19] II.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 23 


of the flesh communicate life, and it is thenceforth 
independent. But the life of the Spirit, which we 
draw from God, is only sustained by the continual 
repetition of the same gift by which it was originated. 
So the second idea that lies in the expression is that 
of a life dependent upon Him from whom it originally 
comes. The better life in the Christian soul is as 
certain to fade and die if the supply from Heaven is 
cut off or dammed back, as is the bed of a stream to 
become parched and glistering in the fierce sunshine, 
if the head-waters flow into it no more. You can no 
more have the life of the Spirit in the spirit of a man 
without continual communication from Him than a 
sunbeam can subsist if it be cut off from the central 
source. Therefore, the second of the ideas in this 
expression is, the continual dependence of that derived 
life upon God. Christian people are ‘of God,’ in so far 
as they partake of that new life, in av altogether 
special sense, which has a feeble analogy in the depend- 
ence of all creation upon the continual effluence of the 
Divine power. Preservation is a continual creation, 
and unless God operated in all physical phenomena 
and change there would neither be phenomena, nor 
change, nor substance, which could show them forth. 
But high above all that is the dependence of the 
renewed soul upon Him for the continual communica- 
tion of His gifts and life. 

If that life is thus derived and dependent, there 
follows the last idea in our pregnant phrase, viz., that 
it is correspondent with its source. ‘Ye are of God, 
kindred with Him and developing a life which, in its 
measure, being derived and dependent, is cognate with, 
and assimilated to, His own. This isthe prerogative of 
every Christian soul. 


24 I. JOHN (cu. v. 


Then there is another step to be taken. The man that 
has that life knows it. ‘We know, says the Apostle, 
‘that we are of God. That word ‘know’ has been 
usurped, or at all events illegitimately monopolised by 
certain forms of knowledge. But surely the inward 
facts of my own consciousness are as much facts, and 
are certified to me as validly and reliably as are facts 
in other regions which are attested by the senses, or 
arrived at by reasoning. Christian people have the 
same right to lay hold of that great word, ‘we know,’ 
and to apply it to the facts of their spiritual experience, 
as any scientist in the world has to apply it to the 
facts of his science. I do not for a moment forget the 
differences between the two kinds of knowledge, but I 
do feel that in regard of certitude the advantage is at 
least shared, and some of us would say that we are 
surer of ourselves than we are of anything besides. 
How do you know that you are at all? The only 
answer is, ‘I feel that I am.’ And precisely the same 
evidence applies in regard to these lofty thoughts of a 
Divine kindred and a spiritual life. I know that Iam of 
God. I have passed through experiences, and I am 
aware of consciousness which certify that to me. 

But that is not all For, as I tried to show in my 
last sermon, the condition of being ‘born of God" is 
laid plainly down in this very chapter by the Apostle, 
as being the simple act of faith in Jesus Christ. So, 
then, if any man is sure that he believes, he knows 
that he is born of God, and is of God. : 

But you say, ‘Do you not know that men deceive 
themselves by a profession of being Christians, and 
that many of us estimate their professions at a very 
different rate of genuineness from what they estimate 
them at?’ Yes, I know that. And this whole letter 


v.19] I1.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 25 


of John goes to guard us against the presumption of 
entertaining inflated thoughts about ourselves as being 
kindred with God, unless we verify the consciousness 
by certain plain facts. You remember how continually 
in this epistle there crops up by the side of the most 
thorough-going mysticism, as people call it, the 
plainest, home-spun practical morality, and how all 
these lofty, towering thoughts are brought down to 
this sharp test, ‘Let no man deceive you; he that 
doeth not righteousness is not of God; neither he that 
loveth not his brother.’ That is a test which, applied 
to many a fanatical dream, shrivels it up. 

There is another test which the Master laid down in 
the words that I have quoted already for another 
purpose, when He said, ‘He that is of God heareth 
God's words. Ye, therefore, hear them not because ye 
are not of God.’ Christian people, take these two 
plain tests—first, righteousness of life, common prac- 
tical morality, the doing and the loving to do, the 
things that all the world recognises to be right and 
true; and, second, an ear attuned and attent to catch 
God's voice—and control your consciousness of being 
God's son by these, and you will not go far wrong. 

And now, before I go further, one word. It is a 
shame, and a laming and a weakening of any Christian 
life, that this triumphant confidence should not be 
clear init. ‘We know that we are of God.’ Can you 
and I echo that with calm confidence? ‘I sometimes 
half hope that I am.’ ‘I am almost afraid to say it.’ 
‘Ido not know whether I am or not.’ ‘I trust I may 
be.” That is the kind of creeping attitude in which 
hosts of Christian people are contented to live; and 
they stare at a man as if he was presumptuous, and 
soaring up into a region that they do not know any- 


26 | I. JOHN fom, v. 


thing about, when he humbly echoes the Apostle, and 
says, ‘We know that we are God's. Why should our 
skies be as grey and sunless as those of a northern 
winter's day when all the while, away down on the 
sunny seas, to which we may voyage if we will, there 
are unbroken sunshine, ethereal blue, and a perpetual 
blaze of light? Christian men and women! it concerns 
the power of your lives, their progress in holiness, and 
their possession of peace, that you should be far more 
able than, alas! many. of us are, to say, and that 
without presumption, ‘ We know that we are of God.’ 

II. We have here the Christian view of the surround- 
ing world. 

I need not, I suppose, remind you that John learned 
from Jesus to use that phrase ‘the world, not as 
meaning the aggregate of material things, but as 
meaning the aggregate of godless men. If you wanta 
modern translation of the word, it comes very near a 
familiar one with us nowadays, and that is ‘Society’; 
the mass of people that are not of God. 

Now, the more a man is conscious that he himself, by 
faith in Jesus Christ, has passed into the family of God, 
and possesses the life that comes from Him, the more 
keen will be his sense of the evil that lies round him, 
and of the contrast between the maxims and prevalent 
practices and institutions and ways of the world, and 
those which belong to Christ and Christ’s people. Just 
as a native of Central Africa, brought to England for 
a while, when he gets back to his kraal, will see its 
foulnesses and its sordidnesses as he did not before, or 
as, according to old stories, those that were carried 
away into fairyland for a little while came back to the 
work-a-day life of the world, and felt themselves alien 
from it, and had visions of what they had seen ever 


x 


v.19] I1.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 27 


floating before them; so the measure of our conscious 
belonging to God is the measure of our perception of 
the contrast between us and the ways of the men 
about us. 

I am not concerned for a moment to deny, rather, I 
most thankfully recognise the truth, that a great deal 
of ‘the world’ has been ransomed by the Cross, by 
which its prince has been cast out, and that much of 
Christian morality, and of the Christian way of looking 
at things, has passed into the general atmosphere in 
which we live, so as that, between the true Christian 
community and the surrounding world in which it is 
plunged, there is less antagonism than there was when 
John in Ephesus wrote these words beneath the shadow 
of Diana’s temple. But the world is a world still, and 
the antagonism is there; and if a man will live true to 
the life of God that is in him, he will find out soon 
enough that the gulf is not bridged over. It never 
will be bridged. The only way by which the anta- 
gonism can be ended is for the kingdoms of this world 
to become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. 
Society is not of God, and the institutions of every 
nation upon earth have still in them much of the evil 
one. Christian people are set down in the midst of 
these, and the antagonism is perennial. 

III. Lastly, consider the consequent Christian duty. 

Let me put two or three plain exhortations. [I 
beseech you, Christian people, cultivate the sense of 
belonging to a higher order than that in which you 
dwell. A man in a heathen land loses his sense of 
home, and of its ways; and it needs a perpetual effort 
in order that we should not forget our true affinities. 
‘We are of God’ may be so said as to be the parent 
of all manner of un-Christlike sentiments, as I have 


28 I. JOHN (on. v. 


already remarked. It may be the mother of contempt 
and self-righteousness, and a hundred other vices; but, 
rightly said, it has no such tendency. But unless we 
are ever and anon seeking to renew that consciousness, 
it will fade and. become dim, and we shall forget the 
imperial palace whence we came, and be content to live 
in the barren fields of the citizens of that country, and 
even to feed upon the husks that are in the swine’s 
trough. So I say, cultivate the sense of belonging 
to God. 

Again, I say, be careful to avoid infection. Go as 
men do in a plague-stricken city. Go as our soldiers in 
that Ashanti expedition had to go, on your guard 
against malaria, the ‘ pestilence that walketh in dark- 
ness,’ and smites ere we are aware, bringing down our 
notions, our views of life, our thoughts of duty, to the 
low level of the people around us. Go as these same 
soldiers did, on the watch for ambuscades and lurking 
enemies behind the trees. And remember that the 
only safety is keeping hold of Christ's hand. 

Look on the world as Christ looked on it. There 
must be no contempt; there must be no self-righteous- 
ness; there must be no pluming ourselves on our own 
prerogatives. There must be sorrow caught from Him, 
and tenderness of pity, like that which forced itself 
to His eyes as He gazed across the valley at the city 
sparkling in the sunshine, or such as wrung His heart 
when He looked upon the multitude as sheep without 
a shepherd. 

Work for the deliverance of your brethren from the 
alien tyrant. Notice the difference between the two 
clauses in the text. ‘We are of God’; that isa per- 
manent relation. ‘The world lieth in the wicked one’; 
that is not necessarily a permanent relation. The world 


v.19] IIIL.—_TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 29 


is not of the wicked one; it is ‘im’ him, and that may 
be altered. It is in the sphere of that dark influence. 
As in the old stories, knights hung their dishonoured 
arms upon trees, and laid their heads in the lap of an 
enchantress, so men have departed from God, and sur- 
rendered themselves to the fascinations and the control 
of an alien power. But the world may be taken out of 
the sphere of influence in which it lies. And that is 
what you are here for. ‘For this purpose the Son of 
God was manifested, that He might destroy the works 
of the devil’; and for that purpose He has called us to 
be His servants. So the more we feel the sharp con- 
trast between the blessedness of the Divine life which 
we believe ourselves to possess, and the darkness and 
evils of the world that lies around us, the more should 
sorrow, and the more should sympathy, and the more 
should succour be ours. Brethren, for ourselves let us 
remember that we cannot better help the world to get 
away from the alien tyrant that rules it than by walk- 
ing in the midst of men, with the aureola of this joyful 
confidence and certitude around us. The solemn alter- 
native opens before every one of us—Hither I am ‘of 
God,’ or I am ‘in the wicked one.’ Dear friends, let us 
lay our hearts and hands in Christ’s care, and then that 
will be true of us which this Apostle declares for the 
whole body of believers: ‘ Yeare of God, little children, 
and have overcome, because greater is He that is in 
you than he that is in the world.’ 


III.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 
‘ And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understand- 
ing, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even im 
His Son Jesus Christ.’—1 JOHN v. 20. 


OncE more John triumphantly proclaims ‘ We know.’ 
Whole-souled conviction rings in his voice. He is sure 


80 I. JOHN ox. v. 


of his footing. He does not say ‘ We incline to think,’ 
or even ‘ We believe and firmly hold,’ but he says ‘We 
know. A very different tone that from that of many 
of us, who, influenced by currents of present opinions, 
feel as if what was rock to our fathers had become 
quagmire to us! But John in his simplicity thinks 
that it is a tone which is characteristic of every 
Christian. I wonder what he would say about some 
Christians now. 

This third of his triumphant certainties is connected 
closely with the two preceding ones, which have been 
occupying usin former sermons. It is so, as being in 
one aspect the ground of these, for it is because ‘the 
Son of God is come’ that men are born of God, and 
are of Him. It is so in another way also, for properly 
the words of our text ought to read not ‘ And we know,’ 
rather ‘But we know.’ They are suggested, that is to 
say, by the preceding words, and they present the only 
thought which makes them tolerable. ‘The whole world 
lieth in the wicked one. But we know that the Son of 
God is come.’ Falling back on the certainty of the 
Incarnation and its present issues, we can look in the 
face the grave condition of humanity, and still have hope 
for the world and for ourselves. The certainty of the 
Incarnation and its issues, | say. For in my text John 
not only points to the past fact that Christ has comein 
the flesh, but to a present fact, the operation of that 
Christ upon Christian souls—‘He hath given us an 
understanding.’ And not only so, but he points, further, 
to a dwelling in God and God in us as being the abiding 
issue of that past manifestation. So these three things 
—the coming of Christ, the knowledge of God which 
flows into a believing heart through that Incarnate Son, 
and the dwelling in God which is the climax of all His 


v.20] III.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 31 


gifts to us—these three things are in John’s estimation 
certified to a Christian heart, and are not merely 
matters of opinion and faith, but matters of knowledge. 

Ah! brethren, if our Christianity had that firm strain, 
and was conscious of that verification, it would be less 
at the mercy of every wind of doctrine; it would be less 
afraid of every new thought; it would be more powerful 
to rule and to calm our own spirits, and it would be 
more mighty to utter persuasive words to others. We 
must know for ourselves, if we would lead others to 
believe. So I desire to look now at these three points 
which emerge from my text, and 

I. I would deal with the Christian’s knowledge that 
the Son of God is come. 

Now, our Apostle is writing to Asiatic Christians of 
the second generation at the earliest, most of whom had 
not been born when Jesus Christ was upon earth, and 
none of whom had any means of acquaintance with Him 
except that which we possess—the testimony of the 
witnesses who had companied with Him. And yet, to 
these men—whose whole contact with Christ and the 
Gospel was, like yours and mine, the result of hearsay 
—he says, ‘We know.’ Was he misusing words in his 
eagerness to find a firm foundation for a soul to rest on? 
Many would say that he was, and would answer this 
certainty of his ‘We know,’ with, How can he know? 
You may go on the principle that probability is the 
guide of life, and you may be morally certain, but the 
only way by which you know a fact is by having seen 
it; and even if you have seen Jesus Christ, all that you 
saw would be the life of a man upon earth whom you 
believed to be the Son of God. It is trifling with 
language to talk about knowledge when you have only 
testimony to build on. 


82 I. JOHN (cH. v. 


Well! there is a great deal to be said on that side, 
but there are two or three considerations which, I 
think, amply warrant the Apostle’s declaration here, 
and our understanding of his words, ‘We know,’ in 
their fullest and deepest sense. Let me just mention 
these briefly. Remember that when John says ‘The 
Son of God is come’ he is not speaking—as his language, 
if any of you can consult the original, distinetly shows 
—about a past fact only, but about a fact which, be- 
ginning in a historical past, is permanent and con- 
tinuous. In one aspect, no doubt, Jesus Christ had 
come and gone, before any of the people to whom this 
letter was addressed heard it for the first time, but in 
another aspect, if I may use a colloquial expression, 
when Jesus Christ came, He ‘came to stay.’ And that 
thought, of the permanent abiding with men, of the 
Christ who once was manifest in the flesh for thirty 
years, and 


‘ Walked the acres of those blessed fields 
For our advantage,’ 


runs through the whole of Scripture. Nor shall we 
understand the meaning of Christ’s Incarnation unless 
we see in it the point of beginning of a permanent 
reality. He has come, and He has not gone—‘Lo! I 
am with you alway’—and that thought of the fulness 
and permanence of our Lord's presence with Christian 
souls is lodged deep and all-pervading, not only in John’s 
gospel, but in the whole teaching of the New Testament. 
So it is a present fact, and not only a past piece of 
history, which is asserted when the Apostle says ‘ The 
Son of God is come.’ Anda man who has a companion 
knows that he has him, and by many a token not only 
of flesh but of spirit, is conscious that he is not alone, 


v.20] III.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 33 


but that the dear and strong one is by his side. Such 
consciousness belongs to all the maturer and deeper 
forms of the Christian life. 

Further, we must read on in my text if we are to find 
all which John declares to be a matter of knowledge. 
‘The Son of God is come, and hath given us an under- 
standing. Ishall havea word ortwo more to say about 
that presently, but in the meantime I simply point out 
that what is here declared to be known by the Christian 
soul is a present operation of the present Christ upon 
his nature. If a man is aware that, through his faith 
in Jesus Christ, new perceptions and powers of discern- 
ing solid reality where he only saw mist before have 
been granted to him, the Apostle’s triumphant assertion 
is vindicated. 

And, still further, the words of my text, in their 
assurance of possessing something far more solid than 
an opinion or a creed, in Christ Jesus and our relation 
to Him, are warranted, on the consideration that the 
growth of the Christian life largely consists in changing 
belief that rests on testimony into knowledge grounded 
in vital experience. At first a man accepts Jesus Christ 
because, for one reason or another, he is led to give 
credence to the evangelical testimony and to the 
apostolic teaching: but as he goes on learning more 
and more of the realities of the Christian life, creed 
changes into consciousness; and we can turn round to 
apostles and prophets, and say to them, with thank- 
fulness for all that we have received from them, ‘ Now 
we believe, not because of your saying, but because we 
have seen Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed 
the Christ, the Saviour of the world. That is the 
advance which Christian men should all make, from 
the infantile, rudimentary days, when they accepted 

c 


34 I. JOHN [cH. v. 


Christ on the witness of others, to the time when they 
accepted Him because, in the depth of their own ex- 
perience, they have found Him to be all that they took 
Him to be. The true test of creed is life. The true way 
of knowing that a shelter is adequate is to house in it, 
and be defended from the pelting of every pitiless 
storm. The medicine we know to be powerful when 
it has cured us. And every man that truly grasps 
Jesus Christ, and is faithful and persevering in his 
hold, can set his seal to that which to others is 
but a thing believed on hearsay, and accepted on 
testimony. 

‘We know that the Son of God is come.’ Christian 
people, have you such a first-hand acquaintance with 
the articles which constitute your Christian creed as 
that? Over and above all the intellectual reasons 
which may lead to the acceptance, as a theory, of the 
truths of Christianity, have you that living experi- 
ence of them which warrants you in saying ‘We 
know’? Alas! Alas! Iam afraid that this supreme 
ground of certitude is rarely trodden by multitudes of 
professing Christians. And so in days of criticism and 
upheaval they-are frightened out of their wits, and all 
but out of their faith, and are nervous and anxious lest 
from this corner or that corner or the other corner of 
the field of honest study and research, there may come 
some sudden shock that will blow the whole fabric of 
their belief to pieces. ‘He that believeth shall not 
make haste,’ and a man who knows what Christ has 
done for him may calmly welcome the advent of any 
new light, sure that nothing that can be establis>ed can 
touch that serene centre in which his certitude sits 
enshrined and calm. Brother, do you seek to be able 
to say, ‘I know in whom I have believed’? 


v.20] III.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 85 


II. Note the new power of knowing God given by 
the Son who is come. 

Jobn says that one issue of that Incarnation and 
permanent presence of the Lord Christ with us is that 
‘He hath given us an understanding that we may know 
Him that is true.’ Now, I do not suppose that he 
means thereby that any absolutely new faculty is 
conferred upon men, but that new direction is given to 
old ones, and dormant powers are awakened. Just as 
in the miracles of our Lord the blind men had eyes, but 
it needed the touch of His finger before the sight came 
to them, so man, that was made in the image of God, 
which he has not altogether lost by any wandering, 
has therein lying dormant and oppressed the capacity 
of knowing Him from whom he comes, but he needs 
the couching hand of the Christ Himself, in order 
that the blind eyes may be capable of seeing and the 
slumbering power of perception be awakened. That 
gift of a clarified nature, a pure heart, which is the 
condition, as the Master Himself said, of seeing God— 
that gift is bestowed upon all who, trusting in the 
Incarnate Son, submit themselves to His cleansing hand. 

In the Incarnation Jesus Christ gave us God to see; 
by His present work in our souls He gives us the power 
to see God. The knowledge of which my text speaks 
is the knowledge of ‘ Him that is true,’ by which preg- 
nant word the Apostle means to contrast the Father 
whom Jesus Christ sets before us with all men’s 
conceptions of 2 Divine nature; and to declare that 
whilst these conceptions, in one way or another, fall 
beneath or diverge from reality and fact, our God 
manifested to us by Jesus Christ is the only One whose 
nature corresponds to the name, and who is essentially 
that which is included in it, 


86 I. JOHN [cH. v. 


But what I would dwell on especially for a moment 
is that this gift, thus given by the Incarnate and present 
Christ, is not an intellectual gift only, but something 
far deeper. Inasmuch as the Apostle declares that the 
object of this knowledge is not a truth about God but 
God Himself, it necessarily follows that the knowledge 
is such as we have of a person, and not of a doctrine. 
Or, to put it into simpler words: to know about God is 
one thing, and to know God is quite another. We may 
know all about the God that Christ has revealed and 
yet not know Him in the very slightest degree. To 
know about God is theology, to know Him is religion. 
You are not a bit better, though you comprehend the 
whole sweep of Christ’s revelation of God, if the God 
whom you in so far comprehend remain a stranger to 
you. That we may know Him as a man knows his 
friend, and that we may enter into relations of familiar 
acquaintance with Him, Jesus Christ has come in the 
flesh, and this is the blessing that He gives us—not an 
accurate theology, but a loving friendship. Has Christ 
done that for you, my brother? 

That knowledge, if it is real and living, will be 
progressive. More and more we shall come to know. 
As we grow like Him we shall draw closer to Him; as 
we draw closer to Him we shall grow like Him. So 
the Christian life is destined to an endless progress, 
like one of those mathematical spirals which ever climb, 
ever approximate to, but never reach, the summit and 
the centre of the coil. So,if we have Christ for our 
medium both of light and of sight, if He both gives us 
God to see and the power to see Him, we shall begin a 
eourse which eternity itself will not witness completed. 
We have landed on the shores of a mighty continent, 
and for ever and for ever and ever we shall be pressing 


v.20] I1I.—TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES 387 


deeper and deeper into the bosom of the land, and 
learning more and more of its wealth and loveliness. 
‘We know that we know Him that istrue.’ Ifthe Son 
of God has come to us, we know God, and we know that 
we know Him. Do you? 

III. Lastly, note here the Christian indwelling of 
God, which is possible through the Son who is come. 

Friendship, familiar intercourse, intimate knowledge 
as of one with whom we have long dwelt, instinctive 
sympathy of heart and mind, are not all which, in 
John’s estimation, Jesus Christ bringsto them that love 
Him, and live in Him. For he adds,‘ We are in Him 
that is true. Of old Abraham was called the Friend of 
God, but an auguster title belongs to us. ‘Know ye 
not that ye are the temples of the living God, and that 
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?’ Oh! brethren, do 
not be tempted, by any dread of mysticism, to deprive 
yourselves of that crown and summit of all the gifts 
and blessings of the Gospel, but open your hearts and 
your minds to expect and to believe in the actual abiding 
of the Divine nature in us. Mysticism? Yes! AndI 
do not know what religion is worth if there is not 
mysticism in it, for the very heart of it seems to me to 
be the possible interpenetration and union of man and 
God—not in the sense of obliterating the personalities, 
but in the deep, wholesome sense in which Christ 
Himself and all His apostles taught it, and in which 
every man who has had any profound experience of 
the Christian life feels it to be true. 

But notice the words of my text for a moment, where 
the Apostle goes on to explain and define how ‘ we are 
in Him that is true, because we are ‘in His Son Jesus 
Christ.’ That carries us away back to ‘Abide in Me, 
and I in you.’ John caught the whole strain of such 


88 I. JOHN [cH. v. 


thoughts from those sacred words in the upper room. 
Christ in us is the deepest truth of Christianity. And 
that God is in us, if Christ is in us, is the teaching not 
only of my text but of the Lord Himself, when He said, 
‘We will come unto him and make our abode with 
him.’ 

And will nota man ‘know’ that? Will it not be some- 
thing deeper and better than intellectual perception 
by which he is aware of the presence of the Christ in 
his heart? Cannot we all have it if we will? There is 
only one way to it, and that is by simple trust in Jesus 
Christ. Then, as I said, the trust with which we began 
will not leave us, but will be glorified into experience 
with which the trust will be enriched. 

Brethren, the sum and substance of all that I have 
been trying to say is just this: lay your poor per- 
sonalities in Christ’s hands, and lean yourselves upon 
Him; and there will come into your hearts a Divine 
power, and, if you are faithful to your faith, you will 
know that it is not in vain. There is a tremendous 
alternative, as I have already pointed out, suggested 
by the sequence of thoughts in my text, ‘the whole 
world lieth in the wicked one’ but ‘ we are in Him that 
is true. We have to choose our dwelling-place, whether 
we shall dwell in that dark region of evil, or whether 
we shall dwell in God, and know that God is in us. 

If we are true to the conditions, we shall receive the 
promises. And then our Christian faith will not be 
dashed with hesitations, nor shall we be afraid lest any 
new light shall eclipse the Sun of Righteousness, but, 
in the midst of the babble of controversy, we may be 
content to be ignorant of much, to hold much in 
suspense, to part with not a little, but yet with quiet 
hearts to be sure of the one thing needful, and with 


vs.20,21] LAST APOSTLE’S LAST WORDS 39 


unfaltering tongues to proclaim ‘We know that the 
Son of God is come, and we are in Him that is true.’ 


THE LAST WORDS OF THE LAST APOSTLE 


‘This is the true God, and eternal life. 21, Little children, keep yourselves from 
idols. Amen.’—1 JOHN v. 20, 21. 
So the Apostle ends his letter. These words are 
probably not only the close of this epistle, but the last 
words, chronologically, of Scripture. The old man 
gathers together his ebbing force to sum up his life’s 
work in asentence, which might be remembered though 
much else was forgotten. Last words stick. Perhaps, 
too, some thought of future generations, to whom his 
witness might come, passed across his mind. At all 
events, some thought that we are here listening to the 
last words of the last Apostle may well be in ours. You 
will observe that, in this final utterance, the Apostle 
drops the triumphant ‘we know, which we have found 
in previous sermons reiterated with such emphasis. 
He does so, not because he doubted that all his brethren 
would gladly attest and confirm what he was about to 
say, but because it was fitting that his last words should 
be his very own; the utterance of personal experience, 
and weighty with it, and with apostolic authority. So 
he smelts all that he had learned from Christ, and had 
been teaching for fifty years, into that one sentence. 
The feeble voice rings out clear and strong; and then 
softens into tremulous tones of earnest exhortation, 
and almost of entreaty. The dying light leaps up in 
one bright flash: the lamp is broken, but the flash 
remains. And if we will let it shine into our lives, we 
shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. 


40 ' 1, JOHN [on v. 


I. Here we have the sum of all that we need to know 
about God. 

‘This is the true God.’ The first question is, What or 
whom does John mean by ‘this’? 

Grammatically, we may refer the word to the 
immediately preceding name, Jesus Christ. But it 
is extremely improbable that the Apostle should so 
suddenly shift his point of view, as he would do if, 
having just drawn a clear distinction between ‘Him 
that is true, and the Christ who reveals Him, he 
immediately proceeded to apply the former designation 
to Jesus Christ Himself. It is far more in accordance 
with his teaching, and with the whole scope of the 
passage, if by‘ this” we understand the Father of whom 
he has just been speaking. It is no tautology that he 
reiterates in this connection that He is ‘true.’ For he 
has separated now his own final attestation from the — 
common consciousness of the Christian community with 
which he has previously been dealing. And when he 
says, ‘This is the true God’ he means to say, ‘This God 
of whom I have been affirming that Jesus Christ is His 
sole Revealer, and of whom I have been declaring that 
through Jesus Christ we may know Him and dwell abid- 
ingly in Him,’ ‘this’—and none else—‘is the true God.” 

Then the second question that I have to answer 
briefly is, What does John mean by ‘true’? I had - 
occasion, in a previous sermon on the foregoing words, 
to point out that by that expression he means, whenever 
he uses it, some person or thing whose nature and 
character correspond to his or its name, and who is 
essentially and perfectly that which the name expresses. 
If we take that as the signification of the word, we just 
come to this, that the final assertion into which the old 
Apostle flings all his force, and which he wishes to stand - 


ve.20,21] LAST APOSTLE’S LAST WORDS 41 


out prominent as his last word to his brethren and to 
the world, is that the God revealed in Jesus Christ, 
and with whom a man through Jesus Christ may have 
fellowship of knowledge and friendship—that He and 
none but He answers to all that men mean when they 
speak of a God; that He, if I might use such an expres- 
sion, fully fills the part. 

Brethren, if we but think that, however it comes 
(no matter about that), every man has in him a capacity 
of conceiving of a perfect Being, of righteousness, 
power, purity, and love, and that all through the ages 
of the world’s yearnings there has never been presented 
to it the realisation of that dim conception, but that 
all idolatry, all worship, has failed in bodying out 
a Person who would answer to the requirements of a 
man’s spirit, then we come to the position in which 
these final words of the old fisherman go down to a 
deeper depth than all the world’s wisdom, and carry a 
message of consolation and a true gospel to be found 
nowhere besides. 

Whatsoever embodiments men may have tried to give 
to their dim conception of a God, these have been 
always limitations, and often corruptions, of it. And 
to limit or to separate is, in this case, to destroy. No 
pantheon can ever satisfy the soul of man who yearns 
for One Person in whom all that he can dream of 
beauty, truth, goodness shall be ensphered. A galaxy of 
stars, white as the whitest spot in the Milky Way, can 
never be a substitute for the sun. ‘This is the true 
God’; and all others are corruptions, or limitations, or 
divisions, of the indissoluble unity. 

Then, are men to go for ever and ever with ‘the 
blank misgivings of acreature, moving about in worlds 
not realised’? Is it true that I can fancy some one far 


42 I. JOHN [CH. Vv. 


greater than is? Is it true that my imagination can 
paint a nobler form than reality acknowledges? It is 
so, alas! unless we take John’s swan-song and last 
testimony as true, and say:—This God, manifest in 
Jesus Christ, on whose heart I can lay my head, and 
into whose undying and unstained light I can gaze, and 
in whose righteousness I can participate, this God is 
the real God; no dream, no projection from my own 
nature, magnified and cleansed, and thrown up first 
from the earth that it may come down from heaven, but 
the reality, of whom all human imaginations are but the 
faint transcripts, though they be the faithful prophets. 

For, consider what it is that the world owes to Jesus 
Christ, in its knowledge of God. Remember that to us 
orphaned men He has come and said, as none ever said, 
and showed as none ever showed: ‘ Ye are not father- 
less, there is a Father in the heavens.’ Consider that to 
the world, sunk in sense and flesh, and blotting its most 
radiant imaginations of the Divine by some veil and 
hindrance, of corporeity and materialism, He comes, 
and has said, ‘God is a Spirit.’ Consider that, taught of 
Him, this Apostle, to whom was committed the great 
distinction of in monosyllables preaching central truths, 
and in words that a child can apprehend, setting forth 
the depths that eternity and angels cannot compre- 
hend, has said, ‘God is Light, and in Him is no dark- 
ness at all.’ And consider that he has set the apex on 
the shining pyramid, and spoken the last word when 
he has told us, ‘God is Love.’ And put these four re- 
velations together, the Father; Spirit ; unsullied Light; 
absolutely Love; and then let us bow down and say, 
‘Thou hast said the truth, O aged Seer. This is our 
God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. 
This—and none beside—is the true God.’ 


vs.20,21] LAST APOSTLE’S LAST WORDS 48 


I know not what the modern world is to do for a 
God if it drifts away from Jesus Christ and His reve- 
lations. I know that it is always a dangerous way of 
arguing to try to force people upon alternatives, one 
of which is so repellent as to compel them to cling to 
the other. But it does seem to me that the whole 
progress of modern thought, with the advancement of 
modern physical science, and other branches of know- 
ledge which perhaps are not yet to be called science, 
are all steadily converging on forcing us to this choice 
—will you have God in Christ, or, will you wander about 
in a Godless world, and for your highest certitude have 
to say,‘ Perhaps’? ‘This is the true God, and if we go 
away from Him I do not know where we are to go. 

II. Here we have the sum of His gifts to us. 

‘This is the true God, and eternal life. Now, let us 
distinctly and emphatically put first that what is here 
declared is primarily something about God, and not 
about His gift to men; and that the two clauses, ‘ the 
true God,’ and ‘eternal life, stand in precisely the same 
relation to the preceding words, ‘This is.’ That is to 
say, the revelation which John would lay upon our 
hearts, that from it there may spring up in them a 
wondrous hope, is that, in His own essential self, the 
God revealed in Jesus Christ, and brought into living 
fellowship with us by Him, is ‘eternal life’ By 
‘eternal life’ he means something a great deal more 
august than endless existence. He means a life which 
not only is not ended by time, but which is above time, 
and not subject to its conditions at all. Eternity is not 
time spun out for ever. And so we are not lifted up into 
a region where there is little light, but where the very 
darkness is light, just as the curtain was the picture,in 
the old story of the painter. 


44 I. JOHN [cH. v. 


That seems to part us utterly from God. He is 
‘eternal life’; then, we poor creatures down here, 
whose beiug is all ‘cribbed, cabined, and confined’ by 
succession, and duration, and the partitions of time, 
what can we have in common with Him? John answers 
for us. For, remember that in the earlier part of this 
epistle he writes that ‘the life was manifested, and we 
shew unto you that eternal life which was with the 
Father, and was manifested unto us,’ and ‘we declare 
it unto you; that ye also may have fellowship with us; 
and our fellowship is with the Father and with His 
Son.’ So, then, strange as it is, and beyond our thoughts 
as it is, there may pass into creatures that very eternal 
life which is in God, and was manifested in Jesus. We 
have to think of Him because we know Him to be love, 
as in essence self-communicating, and whatsoever a 
creature can receive, a loving Father, the true God, 
will surely give. 

But we are not left to wander about in regions of 
mysticism and darkness. For we know this, that how- 
ever strange and difficult the thought of eternal life as 
possessed by a creature may be, to give it was the very 
purpose for which Jesus Christ came on earth. ‘I am 
that Bread of Life.’ ‘I am come that they might have 
life, and have it more abundantly.’ And we are not 
left to grope in doubt as to what that eternal life con- 
sists in; for He has said: ‘ This is life eternal, that they 
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom Thou hast sent.’ Nor are we left in any more 
doubt as to that bond by which the whole fulness of 
this Divine gift may flowinto a man’s spirit. For over 
and over again the Master Himself has declared, ‘He 
that believeth hath everlasting life.’ 

Thus, then, there is a life which belongs to God on 


vs.20,21] LAST APOSTLE’S LAST WORDS 45 


His throne, a life lifted above the limitations of time, 
a life communicated by Jesus Christ, as the waters of 
some land-locked lake may flow down through a spark- 
ling river, a life which consists in fellowship with God, 
a life which may be, and is, ours, on the simple condi- 
tion of trusting Him who gives it, and a life which, 
eternal as it is, and destined to a glory all undreamed 
of, in that future beyond the grave, is now the posses- 
sion of every man that puts forth the faith which is its 
condition. ‘He that believeth hath’—not shall have, in 
some distant future, but has to-day—‘ everlasting life,’ 
verily here and now. And so John lays this upon our 
hearts, as the ripe fruit of all his experience, and the 
meaning of all his message to the world, that God re- 
vealed in Christ ‘is the true God,’ and as Himself the 
possessor, is the source for us all, of life eternal. 

III. Lastly, we have here the consequent sum of 
Christian effort. 

‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols,’ seeing 
that ‘this is the true God,’ the only One that answers 
to your requirements, and will satisfy your desires. 
Do not go rushing to these shrines of false deities that 
crowd every corner of Ephesus—ay! and every corner 
of Manchester. For what does John mean by an idol? 
Does he mean that barbarous figure of Diana that 
stood in the great temple, hideous and monstrous? 
No! he means anything, or any person, that comes 
into the heart and takes the place which ought to be 
filled by God, and by Him only. What I prize most, 
what I trust most utterly, what I should be most for- 
lorn if I lost ; what is the working aim of my life, and 
the hunger of my heart—that is myidol. We all know 
that. 

Is the exhortation not needed, my brother? In 


46 I. JOHN (cH. v. 


Ephesus it was hard to have nothing to do with 
heathenism. In that ancient world their religion, 
though it was a superficial thing, was intertwined with 
daily life in a fashion that puts us to shame. Every 
meal] had its libation, and almost every act was knit by 
some ceremony or other to a god. So that Christian 
men and women had almost to go out of the world, in 
order to be free from complicity in the all-pervading 
idol-worship. Now, although the form has changed, 
and the fascinations of old idolatry belong only to a 
certain stage in the world’s culture and history, the 
temptation to idolatry remains just as subtle, just as 
all-pervasive, and the yielding to it just as absurd. 
You and I call ourselves Christians. We say we believe 
that there is nothing else, and nobody else, in the whole 
sweep of the universe that can satisfy our hearts, or be 
what our imagination can conceive, but God only. 
Having said that on the Sunday, what about Monday? 

They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, 
and hewed to themselves broken cisterns that can hold 
no water.’ ‘Little children ’—for we are scarcely more 
mature than that—‘little children, keep yourselves 
from idols.’ 

And how is it to be done? ‘Keep yourselves.’ 
Then you can do it, and you have to make a dead lift 
of effort, or be sure of this—that the subtle seduction 
will slide into your heart, and before you know it, you 
will be out of God’s sanctuary, and grovelling in 
Diana's temple. But it is not only our own effort that 
is needed, for just a sentence or two before, the Apostle 
had said: ‘He that is born of God’—that is, Christ— 
‘keepeth us.’ So our keeping of ourselves is essentially 
our letting Him keep us. Stay inside the walls of the 
citadel, and you need not be afraid of the besiegers ; go 


vs.20,21] GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE 47 


outside by letting your faith flag, and you will be 
captured or killed. Keep yourselves by clinging ‘to 
Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to pre- 
sent you faultless. Make experience by fellowship 
with Him who is the only true God, and able to 
satisfy your whole nature, mind, heart, will, and these 
false deities, the whole rabble of them, will have no 
power to tempt you to bow the knee. 

Brethren! here is the sum of the whole matter. 
There is one truth on which we can stay our hearts, 
one God in whom we can utterly trust, the God re- 
vealed in Jesus Christ. If we do not see Him in Christ, 
we shall not see Him at all, but wander about all our 
days in a world empty of solid reality. There is one 
gift which will satisfy all our needs, the gift of eternal 
life in Jesus Christ. There is one practical injunction 
which will save us from many a heartache, and which 
our weakness can never afford to neglect, and that is 
to keep ourselves from all false worship. These golden 
words of my text, in their simplicity, in their depth, in 
their certainty, in their comprehensiveness, are worthy 
to be the last words of Revelation; and to stand to all 
the world, through all ages, as the shining apex, or the 
solid foundation, or the central core of Christianity. 
‘This —this, and none else—‘is the true God and 
eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from 
idols.’ 


GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE 


‘Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.’—2 JoHN 3. 


WE have here a very unusual form of the Apostolic 


salutation. ‘Grace, mercy, and peace’ are put together 
in this fashion only in Paul’s two Epistles to Timothy, 


48 Il. JOHN (cH. 1. 


and in this the present instance; and all reference to 
the Holy Spirit as an agent in the benediction is, as 
there, omitted. 

The three main words, ‘Grace, mercy, and peace,’ 
stand related to each other in a very interesting 
manner. If you will think for a moment you will see, 
I presume, that the Apostle starts, as it were, from the 
fountain-head, and slowly traces the course of the 
blessing down to its lodgment in the heart of man. 
There is the fountain, and the stream, and, if I may 
so say, the great still lake in the soul, into which its 
waters flow, and which the flowing waters make. 
There is the sun, and the beam, and the brightness 
grows deep in the heart of man. Grace, referring 
solely to the Divine attitude and thought: mercy, the 
manifestation of grace in act, referring to the workings 
of that great Godhead in its relation to humanity: and 
peace, which is the issue in the soul of the fluttering 
down upon it of the mercy which is the activity of the 
grace. So these three come down, as it were, a great, 
solemn, marble staircase from the heights of the Divine 
mind, one step at a time, down to the level of earth; 
and the blessings which are shed along theearth. Such 
is the order. All begins with grace; and the end and 
purpose of grace, when it flashes into deed, and becomes 
mercy, is to fill my soul with quiet repose, and shed 
across all the turbulent sea of human love a great 
calm, a beam of sunshine that gilds, and miraculously 
stills while it gilds, the waves. 

If that be, then, the account of the relation of these 
three to one another, let me just dwell for a moment 
upon their respective characteristics, that we may get 
more fully the large significance and wide scope of this 
blessing. Let us begin at what may be regarded either 


v.3]} GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE 49 


as the highest point from which all the stream descends, 
or as the foundation upon which all the structure rests, 
‘Grace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Son of the Father.’ These two, blended and 
yet separate, to either of whom a Christian man has a 
distinct relation, these two are the sources, equally, of 
the whole of the grace. 

The Scriptural idea of grace is love that stoops, and 
that pardons, and that communicates. I say nothing 
about that last characteristic, but I would like to dwell 
for a moment or two upon the other phases of this 
great word, a key-word to the understanding of so 
much of Scripture. 

The first thing then that strikes me in it is how it 
exults in that great thought that there is no reason 
whatsoever for God’s love except God’s will. The very 
foundation and notion of the word ‘grace’ is a free, 
undeserved, unsolicited, self-prompted, and altogether 
gratuitous bestowment, a love that is its own reason, 
as indeed the whole of the Divine acts are, just as we 
say of Him that He draws His being from Himself, so 
the whole motive for His action and the whole reason 
for His heart of tenderness to us lies in Himself. We 
have no power. We love one another because we 
apprehend something deserving of love, or fancy that 
wedo. We love one another because there is some- 
thing in the object on which our love falls; which, 
either by kindred or by character, or by visible form, 
draws it out. We are influenced so, and love a thing 
because the thing or the person is perceived by us as 
being worthy, for some reason or other, of the love. 
God loves because He cannot help it ; God loves because 
He isGod. Our love is drawn out—I was going to say 
pumped out—by an application of external causes. 

D 


50 II. JOHN [cH. L 


God’s love is like an artesian well, whensoever you 
strike, up comes, self-impelled, gushing into light 
because there is such a central store of it beneath 
everything, the bright and flashing waters. Grace is 
love that is not drawn out, but that bursts out, self- 
originated, undeserved. ‘Not for your sakes, be it 
known unto you, O house of Israel, but for Mine own 
name’s sake, do I this.’ The grace of God is above that, 
comes spontaneously, driven by its own fulness, and 
welling up unasked, unprompted, undeserved, and 
therefore never to be turned away by our evil, never to 
be wearied by our indifference, never to be brushed 
aside by our negligence, never to be provoked by our 
transgression, the fixed, eternal, unalterable centre 
of the Divine nature. His love is grace. 

And then, in like manner, let me remind you that 
there lies in this great word, which in itself is a gospel, 
the preaching that God's love, though it be not turned 
away by, is made tender by our sin. Grace is love 
extended to a person that might reasonably expect, 
because he deserves, something very different; and 
when there is laid, as the foundation of everything, 
‘the grace of our Father and of the Son of the Father,’ 
it is but packing into one word that great truth which 
we all of us, saints and sinners, need—a sign that God’s 
love is love that deals with our transgressions and 
shortcomings, flows forth perfectly conscious of them, 
and manifests itself in taking them away, both in their 
guilt, punishment, and peril. ‘The grace of our Father’ 
is a love to which sin-convinced consciences may cer- 
tainly appeal; a love to which all sin-tyrannised souls 
may turn for emancipation and deliverance. Then, if 
we turn for a moment from that deep fountain, ‘Love's 
ever-springing well,’ as one of our old hymns has it, to 


v.38) GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE 51 


the stream, we get other blessed thoughts. The love, the 
grace, breaksintomercy. The fountain gathers itself 
into a river, the infinite, Divine love concentrates itself 
in act, and that act is described by this one word, 
mercy. As grace is love which forgives, so mercy is 
love which pities and helps. Mercy regards men, its 
object, as full of sorrows and miseries, and so robes 
itself in garb of compassion, and takes wine and oil 
into its hands to pour into the wound, and lays often a 
healing hand, very carefully and very gently, upon the 
creature, lest, like a clumsy surgeon, it should pain 
instead of heal, and hurt where it desires to console. 
God’s grace softens itself into mercy, and all His deal- 
ings with us men must be on the footing that we are 
not only sinful, but that we are weak and wretched, 
and so fit subjects for a compassion which is the 
strangest paradox of a perfect and divine heart. The 
mercy of God is the outcome of His grace. 

And as is the fountain and the stream, so is the great 
lake into which it spreads itself when it is received into 
a human heart. Peace comes, the all-sufficient sum- 
ming up of everything that God can give, and that 
men can need, from His loving-kindness, and from their 
needs. The world is too wide to be narrowed to any 
single aspect of the various discords and disharmonies 
which trouble men. Peace with God; peace in this 
anarchic kingdom within me, where conscience and 
will, hopes and fears, duty and passion, sorrows and 
joys, cares and confidence, are ever fighting one 
another; where we are torn asunder by conflicting 
aims and rival claims, and wherever any part of our 
nature asserting itself against another leads to in- 
testine warfare, and troubles the poor soul. All that 
is harmonised and quieted down, and made concordant 


52 II. JOHN [cx. 1. 


and co-operative to one great end, when the grace and 
the mercy have flowed silently into our spirits and 
harmonised aims and desires. 

There is peace that comes from submission ; tran- 
quillity of spirit, which is the crown and reward of 
obedience; repose, which is the very smile upon the 
face of faith, and all these things are given unto us 
along with the grace and mercy of ourGod. Andas the 
man that possesses this is at peace with God, and at 
peace with himself, so he may bear in his heart that 
singular blessing of a perfect tranquillity and quiet 
amidst the distractions of duty, of sorrows, of losses, 
and of cares. ‘In everything by prayer and supplica- 
tion with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto 
God; and the peace of God which passeth all understand- 
ing shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’ 
And he who is thus at friendship with God, and in 
harmony with himself, and at rest from sorrows and 
cares, will surely find no enemies amongst men with 
whom he must needs be at war, but will be a son 
of peace, and walk the world, meeting in them all 
afriend andabrother. So all discords may be quieted; 
even though still we have to fight the good fight of 
faith, we may do, like Gideon of old, build an altar 
to ‘ Jehovah-shalom,’ the God of peace. 

And now one word, as to what this great text tells 
us are the conditions for a Christian man, of pre- 
serving, vivid and full, these great gifts, ‘Grace, mercy, 
and peace be unto you,’ or, as the Revised Version 
more accurately reads, ‘shall be with us in truth and 
love.’ Truth and love are, as it were, the space within 
which the river flows, if I may so say, the banks of 
the stream. Or, to get away from the metaphor, these 
are set forth as being the conditions abiding in which, 


v.3]) GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE 53 


for our parts, we shall receive this benediction—‘ In 
truth and in love.’ 

I have no time to enlarge upon the great thoughts 
that these two words, thus looked at, suggest; let me 
put itinto a sentence. To ‘abide in the truth’ is to 
keep ourselves conscientiously and habitually under 
the influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and of the 
Christ who is Himself the Truth. They who, keeping 
in Him, realising His presence, believing His word, 
founding their thinking about the unseen, about their 
relations to God, about sin and forgiveness, about 
righteousness and duty, and about a thousand other 
things, upon Christ and the revelation that He makes, 
these are those who shall receive ‘Grace, mercy, and 
peace. Keep yourselves in Christ, and Christ coming 
to you, brings in His hands, and is, the ‘ grace and the 
mercy and the peace’ of which my text speaks. And 
in love, if we want these blessings, we must keep our- 
selves consciously in the possession of, and in the 
grateful response of our hearts to, the great love, the 
incarnate Love, which is given in Jesus Christ. 

Here is, so to speak, the line of direction which these 
great mercies take. The man whostands in their path, 
they will come to him and fill his heart; the man that 
steps aside, they will run past him and not touch him. 
You keep yourselves in the love of God, by communion, 
by the exercise of mind and heart and faith upon Him; 
and then be sure—for my text is not only a wish, but a 
confident afirmation—be sure that the fountain of all 
blessing itself, and the stream of petty benedictions 
which flow from it, will open themselves out in your 
hearts into a quiet, deep sea, on whose calm surface no 
tempests shall ever rave, and on whose unruffied bosom 
God Himself will manifest and mirror His face. 


A PROSPEROUS SOUL 


‘Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, | 

@ven as thy sou! prospereth.’—3 JOHN 2. 
Tuis little letter contains no important doctrinal 
teaching nor special revelation of any kind. It is the 
outpouring of the Christian love of the old Apostle to 
a brother about whom we know nothing else except 
that John, the beloved, loved him in the truth. And 
this prayer—for it is a prayer rather than a mere 
wish, since a good man like John turned all his wishes 
into prayers—this prayer in the original is even more 
emphatic and beautiful than in our version. ‘Beloved, 
I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in 
health, even as thy soul prospereth,’ says the Revised 
Version, and that slight change in the position of one 
clause is at once felt to be an improvement. We can 
scarcely suppose an Apostle praying for anybody ‘above 
all things’ that he might get on in the world. But the - 
wish that Gaius may prosper outwardly in all things, 
as his soul prospers, is eminently worthy of John. He 
sets these two types of prosperity over against one 
another, and says, ‘My wish for you is that you may 
be as prosperous and robust in spiritual matters as you 
are in bodily and material things.’ 

I. Now note in the first place, What makes a pros- 
perous soul? That question might be answered in a ~ 
great variety of ways, but I purpose for the present to — 
answer it by confining myself to this letter, and seeing 
what we can find out about the man to whom it was 
addressed. ‘I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came 
and testified of the truth that is in thee.’ There is the — 
starting-point of true health of soul. That soul, and 

64 


eee 


v. 2] A PROSPEROUS SOUL 55 


only that soul, is prosperous, in which what the Apostle 
calls here ‘ the truth’ is lodged and rooted; and by ‘the 
truth’ he means, of course, the whole great revelation 
of God in Jesus Christ; and eminently Jesus Christ 
Himself who is the embodied Truth. Whether we take 
the phrase as meaning the abiding of Jesus Christ in 
the heart, or whether we take it as meaning more 
simply the incorporation into the very substance of 
the being, of the motives and principles that lie in the 
Gospel, comes to pretty much the samething. The one 
thing which makes a man’s soul healthy is to get Jesus 
Christ into it. That acts like an amulet that banishes 
all diseasesand corruptions. Thatis like the preserving 
salt which, rubbed into a perishable substance, arrests 
corruption and makes food sweet and savoury. It is 
the engrafted word that is able to save the soul, and 
howsoever many other things may contribute to the 
inner well-being and prosperity of a man, such as intel- 
lectual acquirements, refined tastes, the gratification 
of pure affections, the fulfilment of innocent and legiti- 
mate hopes, and the like, the one thing that makes the 
soul prosperous is to have Christ in His word deeply 
planted and inseparably enshrined in its personality 
and being. 

And how is that enshrining to be brought about? 
Alas, we all know the way a great deal better than we 
practise it. The prosperous soul is the soul that has 
opened itself in docile obedience for the entrance of the 
quickening and cleansing word. And just asa flower 
will open its calyx in the sunshine, and being opened 
by the sunshine playing upon its elastic filaments, will, 
because it is opened, receive into itself the sun that 
opened it and so grow; in like manner, that heart that 
disparts itself at the touch of Christ’s hand, and wel- 


56 Ill. JOHN [cH. 1. 


comes Him into the inner chambers and shrine of its 
being, will find that where He comes He brings warmth 
and fragrance and growth and all blessing. The pros- 
perous soul is the Christ-inhabited soul. By willing 
reception, by patient waiting, by the study of God's 
word, by the endeavour to bring ourselves more and 
more under the influence of the truth as it is in Jesus, 
does that truth that makes prosperity take up its abode 
within us. 

But the letter gives another of the characteristics of 
the truly prosperous and healthy soul. ‘Thy brethren 
came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as 
thou walkest in the truth.’ The Apostle is not afraid 
of a confusion of metaphors which shocks sticklers for 
rhetorical propriety. The truth is, first of all, regarded 
as being in the man; and then it is regarded as being 
a road on which, and within the limits of which he 
walks, or an atmosphere in which he moves. The 
incongruity is no real incongruity, but it strikingly 
brings out the great and blessed fact of the Gospel that 
the man who has the grace of God, the truth as it is in 
Jesus, within him, thereby finds that there is prepared 
for him a path within the limits of that truth in which 
he can safely walk. There will be progress if there be - 
prosperity. The prosperous spirit is the active and 
advancing spirit, not content merely with sitting and — 
saying, ‘I have the truth in my soul. Thy word have — 
I hid in my heart that I sin not against Thee’; but ! 
recognising that that truth is the law of his life, and 
prescribes for him a course of conduct. The prosperous — 
soul is the soul that confines its activity within the 
fence which ‘the truth as it is in Jesus,’ who is the . 
pattern, and the motive, and the law, and the power, — 
has laid down for us; and within those limits makes 


. 


v2) A PROSPEROUS SOUL 57 


daily and hourly advance to a more entire conformity 
with the example of the Lord. The prosperous soul is 
the soul that walks—not that sits idle—for action is the 
end of thought, and the purpose of the truth is to make 
men good, and not merely wise—a soul that acts and 
advances, yet never passing out of the atmosphere of 
the Gospel, nor going beyond the principles and motives 
that are laid down there. 

There is a third characteristic in this letter, which 
we may also take for an illustration of the Apostle’s 
idea. For he says: ‘Thou doest faithfully whatsoever 
thou doest.’ 

Now ‘faithfully’ is not here used in the sense of 
righteously discharging all obligations and fulfilling 
one’s stewardship, but it means something deeper than 
that. The root idea is ‘whatever thou doest thou 
doest as a work of Christian faith’; or, to put it into 
other words, the prosperous soul is the soul all whose 
activity is based upon that one great truth made its 
own by faith, that Jesus Christ loves it, and so is all 
the result of trust in Him. Faith in Christ is the 
mother-tincture, out of which every virtue can be com- 
pounded, according to the liquid to which you add it. 
The basis of all, the ‘stock’ from which all the rest is 
really made, is the act of faith in Jesus Christ. And 
so the prosperous soul is the soul that has the truth in 
it, and walks in the truth which it has, and does every- 
thing because it trusts in the living God and in Jesus 
Christ His Son. 

Is that your notion of the ideal of human nature, of 
the true and noble prosperity of an immortal spirit? 
Unless it be you have yet to learn the loftiest elevation 
and the fairest beauty that are possible for men. The 
prosperous soul filled with Christ within, and walking 


58 Ill. JOHN [cH. & 


with Christ by its side, and drawing laws and motives, 
pattern and power from Him, is the soul that truly 
has fulfilled its ideal, and is journeying on the right 
road. For that is the literal meaning of the word that 
is rendered here ‘prosper’; journeying on the right 
road to the true goal of human nature, 

II. Look at the wished-for correspondence between 
this soul-prosperity and outward prosperity. ‘Beloved,’ 
says John, ‘I wish above all things,’ or rather, ‘I wish 
that in regard to all things, thou mayest prosper and 
be in health as thy soul prospereth.’ 

How would you like that standard applied to your 
worldly prosperity? Would you like not to get on any 
better in business than you do in religion? Would you 
be content that your limbs should be no more healthy 
than your soul, or that you should be making no more 
advances in worldly happiness and material prosperity 
than you are in the Divine life? Would you be content 
to have your worldly prosperity doled out to you out 
of the same spoon, of the same dimensions, with which 
you are content to receive your spiritual prosperity? 
‘As thy soul prospereth’—that would mean a very 
Lenten diet for a good many of us, and a very near 
approach to insolvency for some commercial men. 
Brethren, there is a sharp test in these words. I 
suppose this good Gaius to whom the letter was written 
was very likely in humble circumstances, and not im- 
probably in enfeebled health. And John was probably 
wishing for him more than he had, when he wished 
him to get on as well in the world as he did in his 
spiritual life, and desired that his soul might prosper as 
much as his body. It would be a bad thing for some of 
us if the same standard of proportion were applied to us. 

Another consideration is suggested by this corre- 


; 
| 


| 
| 
. 
| 
: 


v. 2] A PROSPEROUS SOUL 59 


spondence, and that is that it is always a disastrous 
thing for Christian people when outward prosperity 
gets ahead of inward. It is the ruin of a good many 
so-called Christian people. When a man gets on in the 
world he begins, too often, to decline in the truth. It 
is difficult for us to carry a full cup without spilling it. 
And the worst thing that could happen to’ many 
Christian people would be what they fret, and fume, 
and work themselves into a fever, and live careful days 
and sleepless nights in order to secure—and that is, 
outward prosperity. The best thing is that the soul 
should be more prosperous than the body, and the 
worst adversity is the outward prosperity that ruins or 
harms the inward life. 

IIL. So, lastly, note the superiority of the inward 
prosperity. Thereis no overstrained spiritualism here. 
John has set us an example that we need not be afraid 
to follow. If he that leaned upon Christ’s bosom, and 
had drunk in more of the spirit of his Master than any 
of the Twelve, was not afraid to pray for this good 
brother that he might have worldly good and health, 
we need not doubt that for ourselves, and for those 
that are dear to us, it is perfectly legitimate and right 
that we should desire and pray for both things. There 
is no unnatural, artificial, hypocritical pretence of 
despising the present and the outward in the words 
here. Although the Apostle does put the two things 
side by side, he does not fall into the error of casting 
eontempt upon either. He is a true disciple of the 
Master who said, ‘ Your Father knoweth that ye have 
need of these things.’ And if your Father knows that 
you have need, then you may be quite sure that you 
will get them, and it is a lie to pretend that you do not 
want them when you do. 


60 Ill. JOHN (ou. 1. 


But then, that being admitted, look how the higher 
towers above the legitimate lower. It will always be 
the case that if a man seeks first the Kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, there will be—in his simple 
devotion to the truth, and walking within the limits 
that it prescribes, and making all his life an act of 


faith—a direct tendency in a great many directions to — 


secure the best possible use, and the largest possible 
enjoyment, from the things that are seen and temporal. 
‘Godliness hath promise of the life which now is’; and 


the first Psalm, which perhaps may have been in the ~ 
Apostle’s mind here, contains a truth that was not — 


exhausted in the Old Testament days, because the man 
whose heart is set on the law of God, and who medi- 
tates upon that law day and night, all that he doeth 
shall prosper. There is in godliness a distinct and 
constant tendency to make the best of both worlds; 
but the best is not made of the present world unless 
we subordinate it and feel distinctly its insignificance 
in comparison with the future, which is also the present, 
unseen world. 

And even when, as is often the case, the devout and 
inwardly prosperous soul is compassed about with 
sorrows that never can be stanched, with griefs through 
which anything but an immortal life would bleed itself 
away; or with poverty and want and anxiety arising 
from causes which no personal devotion can ever touch 
or affect—even then if the soul prospers it has the 
power, the magic power, of converting poison into 
food, and sorrow into a means of growth; and they 
whose spirits are joined to Jesus Christ, and whose 
souls ever move in harmony with Him—and therefore 


are prosperous souls—will find that there is nothing in — 


this world that is really adverse to them. For ‘all 


v.2] FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME 61 


things work together for good to them that love God,’ 
since he who loves God thinks nothing bad that helps 
him to love Him better; and since he who loves God 
finds occasion for loving and trusting Him more in 
every variety and vicissitude of earthly fortune. 

Therefore, brethren, if we will follow the directions 
that this Apostle gives us as to how to secure the 
prosperity of our souls, God is faithful and He will 
measure to us prosperity in regard of outward things 
by the proportion which our faith in Him bears to His 
faithfulness. The more we love Him, the more cer- 
tainly will all things be our servants. If we can say 
‘We are Christ's, then all things are ours. 


FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME 
‘For His name’s sake.’—3 JOHN 7. 


THE Revised Version gives the true force of these words 
by omitting the ‘ His,’ and reading merely ‘ for the sake 
of the Name. There is no need to say whose name. 
There is only One which could evoke the heroism and 
self-sacrifice of which the Apostle isspeaking. The ex- 
pression, however, is a remarkable one. The name 
seems almost, as it were, to be personified. There are 
one or two other instances in the New Testament 
where the same usage is found, according to the true 
reading, though it is obscured in our Authorised 
Version, because it struck some early transcribers as 
being strange, and so they tried to mend and thereby 
spoiled it. 

We read, for instance, in the true reading, in the 
Acts of the Apostles, as to the disciples, on the first 
burst of persecution, that ‘they rejoiced that they 


62 III. JOHN [on 


were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name.’ 
And again, in Philippians, that in recompense and 


reward for ‘His obedience unto death’—the Father — 


hath given unto the Son—‘the Name which is above 
every name. Once more, though less obviously, we 
find James speaking about ‘ the worthy name by which 
we are called.’ 

Then the other part of this phrase is quite as signi- 
ficant as this principal one. The word rendered ‘for 
the sake of,’ does not merely mean—though it does 
mean that—‘ on account of,’ or ‘ by reason of, but ‘on 
behalf of,’ as if, in some wonderful sense, that mighty 
and exalted Name was furthered, advantaged, or 
benefited by even men’s poor services. So, you see, 
a minute study of the mere words of the Scripture, 
though it may seem like grammatical trifling and 
pedantry, yields large results. Men do sometimes 
‘gather grapes of thorns’; and the hard, dry work of 
trying to get at the precise shade of meaning in Scrip- 
tural words always repays us with large lessons and 
impulses. So let us consider the thoughts which 
naturally arise from the accurate observation of the 
very language here. 

I. And, first, let us consider the pre-eminence 
implied in ‘ the Name.’ 

Now I need not do more than remind you in a sen- 
tence that eminently in the Old Testament, and also in 
the New, a name is a great deal more than the syllables 
which designate a person ora thing. It describes, not 
only whoa man is, but what heis; and implies qualities, 
characteristics, either bodily or spiritual, which were 
either discerned in or desired fora person. So when 


the creatures are brought to Adam that he might give — 


them names, that expresses the thought of the primitive 


ee ee ee eee 


v.7] FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME 638 


man’s insight into their nature and characteristics. 
So we find our Lord changing the names of His dis- 
ciples, in some cases in order to express either the deep 
qualities which His eye discerned lying beneath the 
more superficial ones, and to be evolved in due time, or 
declaring some great purpose which He had for them, 
official or otherwise. 

So here the name substantially means the same 
thing as the Person Jesus. It is not the syllables by 
which He is called, but the whole character and nature 
of Him who is called by these syllables, that is meant 
by ‘the Name.’ The distinction between it, as so used, 
and Person, is simply that the former puts more stress 
on the qualities and characteristics as known to us. 

Thus ‘the Name’ means the whole Christ as we 
know Him, or as we may know Him, from the Book, 
in the dignity of His Messiahship, in the mystery of 
His Divinity, in the sweetness of His life, in the depth 
of His words, in the gentleness of His heart, in the 
patience and propitiation of His sacrifice, in the might 
of His resurrection, in the glory of His ascension, in 
the energy of His present life and reigning work for 
us at the right hand of God. All these, the central 
facts of the Gospel, are gathered together into that 
expression the Name, which is the summing up in one 
mighty word, so to speak, which it is not possible for 
aman to utter except in fragments, of all that Jesus 
Christ is in Himself, and of all that He is and does 
for us. 

It is but a picturesque and condensed way of saying 
that Jesus Christ, in the depth of His nature and the 
width of His work, stands alone, and is the single, 
because the all-sufficient, Object of love and trust and 
obedience. There is no need for a forest of little 





64 III. JOHN (on. 1% 


pillars; as in some great chapter-house one central 


shaft, graceful as strong, bears the groined roof, and 
makes all other supports unnecessary and impertinent. 
There is one Name, and one alone, because in the 
depths of that wondrous nature, in the cireumference 
of that mighty work, there is all that a human heart, 
or that all human hearts, can need for peace, for noble- 
ness, for holiness, for the satisfaction of all desires, for 
the direction of efforts, for the stability of their being. 
The name stands alone, and it will be the only Name 
that, at last, shall blaze upon the page of the world’s 
history when the ages are ended; and the chronicles 
of earth, with the brief ‘immortality’ which they gave 
to other names of illustrious men, are moulded into 
dust. ‘The Name is above every name,’ and will out- 
last them all, for it is the all-sufficient and encyclo- 
pedical embodiment of everything that a single 
heart, or the whole race, can require, desire, conceive, 
or attain. 

So then, brethren, the uniqueness and solitariness 
of the name demands an equal and corresponding ex- 
clusiveness of devotion and trust in us. ‘Hear, O 
Israel! The Lord thy God is one Lord. Therefore 
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and 
with all thy mind.’ And in like manner we may argue 
—-There is one Christ, and there is none other but He. 
Therefore all the current of my being is to set to Him, 
and on Him alone amI to repose my undivided weight, 
casting all my cares and putting all my trust only on 
Him. Lean on none other. You cannot lean too 
heavily on that strong arm. Love none other except 
in Him; for His heart is wide enough and deep 


enough forall mankind. Obey none other, for only His — 


v.7] FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME 65 


voice has the right to command. And lifting up our 
eyes, let us see ‘no man any more save Jesus only.’ 
That Name stands alone. 

Involved in this, but worthy of briefly putting 
separately, is this other thought, that the pre-eminent 
and exclusive mention of the Name carries with it, in 
fair inference, the declaration of His Divine nature. 
It seems to me that we have here a clear casein which 
the Old Testament usage is transferred to Jesus Christ, 
only, instead of the Name being Jehovah, it is Jesus. 
It seems to me impossible that a man saturated as this 
Apostle was with Old Testament teaching, and familiar 
as he was with the usage which runs through it as to 
the sanctity of ‘the Name of the Lord,’ should have 
used such language as this of my text unless he had 
felt, as he has told us himself, that ‘the Word was 
God.’ And the very incidental character of the allusion 
gives it the more force as a witness to the common- 
placeness which the thought of the divinity of Jesus 
Christ had assumed to the consciousness of the 
Christian Church. 

II. But passing from that, let me ask you to look, 
secondly, at the power of the Name to sway the life. 

I have explained the full meaning of the preposition 
in my text in my introductory remarks. It seems to 
me to cover both the ground of ‘on account of,’ or ‘ by 
reason of,’ and ‘on behalf of.’ 

Taking the word in the former of these two senses, 
note how this phrase, ‘for the sake of the Name,’ 
carries with it this principle, that in that Name, ex- 
plained as I have done, there lie all the forces that are 
needed for the guidance and the impulses of life. In 
Him, in the whole fulness of His being, in the wonders 
of the story of His character and historical manifesta- 

E 


66 Ill. JOHN (cu. 1. 


tion, there lies all guidance for men. He is the Pattern 
of our conduct. He is the Companion for us in our 
sorrow. He is the Quickener for us in all our tasks. 
And to set Him before us as our Pattern, and to walk 
in the paths that He dictates, is to attain to perfection. 
Whosoever makes ‘for the sake of the Name’ the 
motto of his life will not walk in darkness, but shall 
have the light of life. 

And not only is there guidance, but there is impulse, 
and that is better than guidance. For what men 


—— = —— 


most of all want is a power that shall help or make — 
them to do the things that they see plainly enough to ~ 


be right. 
And oh, brother, where is there such a force to 
quicken, to ennoble, to lead men to higher selves than 


their dead past selves, as lies in the grand sweep of — 


that historical manifestation which we understand by 


the Name of Jesus? There is nothing else that will — 


go so deep down into the heart and unseal the foun- 
tains of power and obedience as that Name. There is 
nothing else that will so strike the shackles off the 
prisoned will, and ban back to their caves the wild 
beasts that tyrannise within, and put the chain round 


_—- 


their necks, as the Name of Jesus Christ. That isthe © 


Talisman that ennobles everything, that evokes un- 
dreamed-of powers, that ‘out of these stones,’ the 


hard and unsusceptible and obstinate wills of godless — 


men, will ‘raise up children unto Abraham. This is 
the secret that turns the heavy lead of our corrupt 
natures into pure gold. 

And where does the impulsive power lie? Where, 
in that great continent, the whole life and work of 
Jesus Christ, is the dominant summit from which the 
streams run down? The Cross! The Cross! The 


| 


v7] FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME = 67 


Love that died for us, individually and singly, as well 
as collectively, is the thing that draws out answering 
love. And answering love is the untiring and omnipo- 
tent power that transmutes my whole nature into the 
humble aspiration to be like Him who has given Him- 
self for me, and to render back myself unto Him for 
Hisgift. Brother,if you have not known the Name of 
Christ as the Name of the Divine Saviour who died on 
the Cross for you, you do not yet understand the 
power to transform, to ennoble, to energise, to impel 
to all self-sacrifice that lies in that Name. In the fact 
of His death, and in the consequent fact of the com- 
munication of life from Him to each of us if we will, 
lie the great impulses which will blessedly and strongly 
earry us along the course which He marks out for us. 
And they who can say ‘For the sake of the Name’ will 
live lives calm, harmonious, noble, and in some humble 
Measure conformed to the serene and transcendent 
beauty to which they bow and on which they rest. 
The impulse for a life—the only one that will last, and 
the only one that will lift—lies in the recognition of 
the Name. And so, let me remind you how our con- 
sequent simple duty is honestly, earnestly, prayerfully, 
always, to try to keep ourselves under the influence of 
that sweet compulsion and mighty encouragement 
which lie in the Name of Jesus Christ. How frag- 
mentary, how interrupted, how imperfect at the best 
are our yieldings to the power and the sweetness of 
the motives and pattern given to us in Christ's Name! 
How much of our lives would be all the same if Jesus 
Christ never had come, or if we never had believed in 
Him! Look back over your days, Christian men, and 
see how little of them has borne that stamp, and how 
slightly it has been impressed upon them. 





68 Ill. JOHN (cH. 


Our whole life ought to be filled with His Name. 
You can write it anywhere. It does not needa gold 
plate to carve His Name upon. It does not need to be 
setin jewelsand diamonds. The poorest scrap of brown — 
paper, and the bluntest little bit of pencil, and the 
shakiest hand, will do to write the Name of Christ; 
and all life, the trivialities as well as the crises, may be © 
flashing and bright with the sacred syllables. Moham- . 
medans decorate their palaces and mosques with : 
no pictures, but with the name of Allah, in gilded . 
arabesques. Everywhere, on walls and roof, and : 
windows and cornices, and pillars and furniture, the : 
name is written. There is no such decoration for a | 
life as that Christ’s Name should be inscribed thereon. — 

III. Lastly, notice the service that even we can do > 
to the Name. 

That, as I said, is the direct idea of the Apostle here. 
He is speaking about a very small matter. There 
were some anonymous Christian people who had gone 
out on a little missionary tour, and in the course of it, 
penniless and homeless, they had come to a city the 
name of which we do not know, and had been taken 
in and kindly entertained by a Christian brother, © 
whose name has been preserved to us in this one : 
letter. And, says John, these humble men went out — 
‘on behalf of the Name’—to do something to further | 
it, to advantage it! Jesus Christ, the bearer of the - 
Name, was in some sense helped and benefited, if I | 
may use the word, by the work of these lowly and : 
unknown brethren. : 

Now there are one or two other instances in the © 
New Testament where this same idea of the benefit — 
accruing to the name of Jesus from His servants on : 
earth is stated, and I just point to them in a sentence — 


9.7] FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME 69 


in order that you may have all the evidence before 
you. There is the passage to which I have already 
referred, recording the disciples’ joy that they were 
‘accounted worthy to suffer shame on behalf of the 
Name. There are the words of Christ Himself in 
reference to Paul at his conversion, ‘I will shew him 
how great things he must suffer for My Name's sake.’ 
There is the church’s eulogium on Barnabas and Paul, 
as ‘men that have hazarded their lives for the Name 
of our Lord Jesus.’ There is Paul’s declaration that 
he is ‘ready, not only to be bound, but to die, on 
behalf of the Name of the Lord Jesus.’ And in the 
introduction of the Epistle to the Romans he connects 
his apostleship with the benefit that thereby accrued 
to the Name of Christ. If we put all these together 
they just come to this, that, wonderful as it is, and 
unworthy as we are to take that great Name into our 
lips, yet, in God’s infinite mercy and Christ’s fraternal 
and imperial love, He has appointed that His Name 
should be furthered by the sufferings, the service, the 
life, and the death of His followers. 

‘He was extolled with my tongue,’ says the Psalmist, 
in a rapture of wonder that any words of his could 
exalt God’s Name. So to you Christians is committed 
the charge of magnifying the name of Jesus Christ. 
You can do it by your lives, and you can do it by your 
words, and you are sent to do both. We can ‘adorn 
the doctrine’; paint the lily and gild the refined gold,and 
make men think more highly of our Lord by our example 
of faithfulness and obedience. We can do it by our 
definite proclamation of His Name, which is laid upon 
us all to do, and for which facilities of varying degrees 
are granted. The inconsistencies of the professing 
followers of Christ are the strongest barriers to the 






oe 


70 III. JOHN [cn 2 


world’s belief in the glory of His Name. The Church 
as itis forms the hindrance rather than the help to the 
world’s becoming a church. If from us sounded out 
the Name, and over all that we did it was written, — 
blazing, conspicuous, the world would look and listen, 
and men would believe that there was something in | 
the Gospel. : 

If you are a Christian professor, either Christ is 
glorified or put to shame in you, His saint; and either 
it is true of you that you do all things in Gena 
the Lord Jesus and so glorify His Name, or that : 
through you the Name of Christ is ‘blasphemed | 
among the nations. Choose which of the two “ 
shall be! 


: 
: 
FELLOW-WORKERS WITH THE TRUTH 


‘That we might be fellow-helpers to the truth.’"—3 Jom» & 


‘ FELLOW-HELPERS to the Truth.’ A word or two may 
be permitted as to the immediate occasion of the 
expression. There seems to have been, as we learn not 
enly from occasional references in the New Testament, 
but from early Christian literature, and very frequent 
practice in the primitive churches, of certain members 
having, like our friends the Quakers, ‘a concern’ for 
some special ministry, and being loosed from their 
ordinary avocations, and sent out with the sanction of 
the Church. These travelling evangelists went from 
place to place, and sought the hospitality and help of 
the Christian communities to which they came. My 
text is an exhortation from the aged Apostle to treat 


v.8)] FELLOW-WORKERS WITH TRUTH 71 


_guch brethren as they deserved, seeing that they have 


‘come forth for the sake of the Name’; and should be 
welcomed and helped as brethren. 
Now there are ambiguities about the words, on which 


_Ineed not dwell. So far as the grammatical construc- 


tion of the originals are concerned, they may either 
mean what our Authorised Version takes them to 
mean, ‘ fellow-helpers’—or rather ‘ fellow-workers’—for 
the Truth; the co-operation being regarded as confined 
to the two sets of men, the evangelists and their 
hospitable receivers—or they may mean, as the Revised 
Version takes them, ‘fellow-workers with the Truth’— 
‘the Truth’ and the two sets of human agents being 
all supposed as co-operating in one commonend. The 
latter is, I presume, the real meaning of the Evangelist. 
‘The Truth’ is supposed to be an active force in the world, 
which both the men who directly preach it, and the men 
who sustain and cheer those who do, are co-operating 
with. Then there is another question as to whether, by 
‘the Truth’ here, we are to understand the whole body 
of Christian revelation, or whether we are to see shin- 
ing through the words the august figure of Him who is 
personally, as He Himself claimed, ‘the Way, and the 
Truth, and the Life.’ I believe that the latter explana- 
tion is the truer one, and more in accordance with the 
intense saturation in all John’s writings with the words 
of the Master. I can scarcely think that when he spoke 
thus about ‘the Truth,’ or when he spoke in another 
of his letters about the ‘Truth which dwelleth in us, 
and shall be in us for ever, he meant only a body 
of principles. I think he meant Jesus Christ Him- 
self. And so with that sacred and auguster meaning 
attaching to his words, I wish to look at them 
with you. 

























72 Ill. JOHN (cu. 1. 


I. The possessors of the Truth are to be workers 
the Truth. 

I do not say a word about the claim which is made in 
this expression, that Christian people possess the ab- 
solute truth in regard to all matters upon which the 
revelation made to them in Jesus Christ touches, 
That is a bold assumption, but I do not need to say a 
word about it here. I take it for granted that you 
professing Christians concur in the belief that what 
you have received about God and Christ and God's will 
concerning men, and the way of salvation, and the 
prospects for the future life, stands alone and complete, 
as ‘the Truth,’ to which all other conceptions of God 
and man and duty and destiny are related, but as 
fragmentary at the highest, and as often perversions, 
corruptions, and contradictions. Do not let any 
modern width of thought, or any impressions 
gathered from the new science of comparative re- 
ligion, blur the distinctness and the joyousness of 
your confidence that in Christ we have not a per- 
adventure of men, but the ‘ Verily! verily !’ of heaven: 
the Truth. 

And then remember that, according to the represen- 
tation of my text, this Truth, wherever it enters into 
man’s heart, lays hold upon him, and makes him its 
apostle. All moral and spiritual truth has that power. 
There are plenty of dry statements in various regions 
of science and thought the reception of which brings 
with it no compulsion whatever to say a word abo 
them. No man is ever smitten with the conviction t 
it is his duty to zo out into the world and proclai 
that ‘two and two make four, or truths of that so 
But once lodge in a man’s heart thoughts of a moral, 
religious, spiritual character, and as soon as he believ 


v.8] FELLOW-WORKERS WITH TRUTH 73 


them he wakes up to feel ‘ Then I must—I must proclaim 
them, and get somebody else to share my convictions.’ 
It is the test of real, deep, vital possession of ‘the Truth’ 
that it shall be as a fire shut up in our bones, burning 
its way necessarily out into the light; and that no man 
who has it dare wrap it in a napkin and bury it in the 
ground. 

God forbid that I should say that a silent Christian 
is not a genuine Christian. I know too well how far 
beneath the ideal we all come, but sure I am that if 
men have never found that when ‘the Truth as it is in 
Jesus’ drew back her veil, and let the lambent beauty 
of her face blaze in upon their hearts, it made them 
her slaves and knight-errants for evermore, they have 
seen very very little of that supreme loveliness. 
Brethren! the truth that we believe is our mistress, 
and of the Christian truth that we profess to hold, we 
are sworn by the very fact to be the apostles and the 
missioners. ; 

Nor let us forget the solemn and elevating thought 
which goes along with the imagery of my text; that 
the Truth, for all its majesty and dignity and divinity, 
needs men for its helpers. The only way by which it 
can spread is through us and our fellows. There is no 
magic by which it can divide and impart itself, apart 
from the agency of the men who already possess it. 
The torch has been brought from heaven, and the light 
with which it blazes is celestial, but in order to enlighten 
the darkness of the earth it must be passed from hand 
to hand by a linked chain of men. The lake lies full of 
possible fertility and promise to flush with green verdure 
the barren burning desert sands; but it will lie there, 
its possible good unrealised for ever, unless men with 
their spades and excavators dig the channels and lead 


74 Ill. JOHN (cH. 1. 


1 


: 
. 


the heaven-sent blessing that came from the clouds 


into all the barren places. The Truth needs us, but 


when the work is done that the workers with the Truth - 


do, it is the Truth and not the workers that have done 
the work. 

So, Christian men and women, I come to you witb 
this message—recognise your dignity, the honour that 
is laid upon you in being allowed to be co-operators 
with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. Recog- 
nise the obligation, solemn and heavy, which is laid 
upon you by the very nature of the truth which we 
believe, by the common bonds of fellowship between 
man and man, to impart the message that has brought 
life to us; and recognise it as at once our highest 
honour and our widest duty to be ‘fellow-workers with 
the Truth.’ 

II. The companions of Christ are to be workers with 
Christ. 

He, as I have pointed out, is the Incarnate Truth. 
And here we come upon the especial peculiarity of 


Christianity as a system, considered in its relation to 


Jesus Christ, its Founder and its Giver. You can take 
Plato’s philosophy and do what you like with it, and 
treat Plato as a negligible quantity. You can do the 
same with all other great teachers, even those of them 
who have most impressed their own individuality upon 
their thinkings, and theorisings, and teachings, but 
you cannot do that with Christianity ; you cannot say, 
‘Never mind who it was that said it. Attend to what 
was said.’ For Jesus Christ, and His message, are so 


interwoven and interlaced in such a fashion as that 


you cannot get rid of Him, and keepit. He Himself is 
the Truth. Christ is Christianity; and any man that 
has ever tried to deal with the teachings of the New 


v.8] FELLOW-WORKERS WITH TRUTH 75 


Testament asa body of principles, ignoring the lips from 
which they came, is left with what they call a caput 
mortuum, a dead mass of impotent generalities. Get 
Christ into them, and they are all palpitating, and 
living, and flaming, and have power. 

So, then, when I call my brethren, and feel myself 
bound to the task of being ‘workers with the Truth,’ it 
is no mere devotion to the propaganda of a creed that 
I want to urge, but it is devotion to proclaiming the 
beloved hand of the person out of whom the creed is 
earved, and in whom all the truth is shrined and 
sphered. Every man that is Christ’s companion is 
thereby bound to be a worker with the incarnate 
Truth. He needs our help. True, he finds all the 
capital, but we are His partners, His representatives 
and agents here on earth, as He has taught us in more 
than one parable. The pound or the talent is His; it 
is given to me, but it is left with me to determine 
whether it shall increase and fructify or not. On the 
Cross He said, ‘It is finished,’ but all through the ages 
He is working, and all through the ages His mightiest 
means of working is through the men by whom He 
works. The Lord works with them, and they work 
with the Lord. They are His tools; He makes them, 
but He cannot do His work without them. And 
notwithstanding the Cross, notwithstanding the ade- 
quate powers for the regeneration of humanity, and 
the salvation of individuals, which lie in that message 
of the Gospel, the co-operation of the Church is needed 
if the world is to be saved. Surely it is constituted in 
order to fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of 
Christ, and to carry on the unfinished development of 
the finished work which, done once for all on the Cross, 
is not done until it has been applied to the world by 


76 III. JOHN (on. 1 


Christ working through His people, and by His people 
working with Christ. If there is a flawin the covering 
that enwraps the wire, there will be no message at the 
other end. If you and I are non-conductors, no matter 
how much power may be flashed into us, that which is | 
beyond us will want the power. The medium between 
Christ and the world that He died and lives to save, : 
the medium is we Christian people. 

‘Workers with the Truth.’ That is parallel with 
what Paul says,in the great word which he ventures — 
upon when, having just declared that neither he nor 
Apollos are anything, he rises to the thought which : 
balances that of their nothingness: ‘ We are labourers ) 
together with God.’ | 

Is not that a dignity? And what shall we say of : 
men who have so little consciousness of union with 
Jesus Christ as that they have next to no sympathy 
with the things that fill His heart? I plead for no 
narrow interpretation of the duties of the ‘ fellow- 
workers with the Truth.’ He came to redress all human > 
misery, sin, and evil. He came not only to speak the 
words that save the soul with the everlasting salvation 
of sin forgiven, and friendship restored between God 
and man, but to carry light and healing and peace and 
hope into every region where the darkness broods, to 
break every chain and let the oppressed go free. Social 
improvements, and all the wider outlooks which Chris- 
tian benevolence takes in these late years, all come into 
the general category of being the carrying out of 
Christ’s sympathies and purpose, and being part of the 
work of those who are‘ fellow-workers’ with Him in 
His toil, and who shall one day hear, ‘It is finished! 
The kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of our 
Lord and of His Christ.’ 


v.8] FELLOW-WORKERS WITH TRUTH 77 


Ill. Further, the workers with Christ are to be 
workers with one another. 

These travelling evangelists had one function. The 
people in the unknown church in Asia Minor, staying 
at home and following their secular callings, had 
another; and that was, to help and to further these 
peripatetic brethren. Co-operation means diversity of 
function and identity of aims and ends. For us there 
remains the duty still, as incumbent as it was in those 
early days, of recognising our own special task, of 
cleaving to that, and yet of furthering and helping all 
our brethren who, in their diverse ways, are engaged 
in the same great end. The men that take care of 
the base of operations of that army that is pressing 
down upon the foe are as truly fighting the enemy as 
the men that are in the front. It was the old law in 
Israel, based upon a clear understanding that all who 
co-operated towards one end, in whatsoever divers ways, 
are united together; that ‘as his partis that goes down 
into the battle, so shall his part be that abides by the 
stuff; they shall part alike.’ 

Brethren, learn your special work. Remember that 
you have each something to do that nobody can do as 
well as you. Learn your special work, and beware of 
narrowing your sympathies to your special work. Let 
them go out to embrace all, however far apart upon 
the wall and however different may be their tasks, they 
are still co-operant to one end. ‘He that planteth and 
he that watereth are one.’ Identity of purpose, and 
wide diversity of method, with as wide charity, and as 
wide sympathy, ought to mark all Christian workers. 

All the thoughts that I have been trying to urge have 
a very direct bearing upon church as well as upon 
individual life. Although there is no intention, on our 


78 Ill. JOHN [orn 


Apostle’s part, of laying down anything like the consti- 
tution of a Christian church, in the incidental words of 
my text, yet the principles involved in these words do 
lie very deep down in the conception of what a Chris- 
tian church ought to be. They make very short work 
of all sacerdotal assumptions. A priest doing a miracle 
there at the altar, and the people simple recipients of, 
and spectators—that, in many quarters, is the modern 
notion of the relation between pastor and people. 
John gives the truer one when he says—‘fellow-helpers ~ 
to the Truth’ 

The words bear on a mistake that is more common 
in the audience, I suppose, than sacramentarian notion 
—namely, that a church is a place where people come 
to hear sermons and pay their pew-rents, and there an 
end. There is a dead-weight of idle people clogging 
the work of every Christian congregation in England. 
Christian professors! what do you do for the Truth, for 
your Lord, for your brethren? I, for my part, have to 
say with the Apostle, ‘not for that we have dominion 
over your faith, but are helpers of your joy; for by 
faith ye stand.’ I decline all responsibility for doing 
more than my own share of the evangelistic work of 
this church. The Chinese put up mud-forts in which 
there is one real cannon that can be fired, and make a 
noise, and all the rest are dummies; painted, wooden. 
That is a great deal too like what a great many Chris- 
tian churches are—one piece to fire, and the others for 
show. 

‘Fellow-helpers.’ That defines our mutual relation. 
But do not be too sure that your work is only the 
indirect work of sustaining ‘them that are such.’ There 
is some direct work for you to do. And you are shuiting 
your souls out from a great blessing by not doing it 


v.8) THE CHRISTIAN’S WITNESSES 79 


Sure I am that whoever is in union with Jesus Christ 
will have his lips touched to proclaim His Name some- 
how. And sure I am that whoever, smitten by love 
and loyalty to his Master, by the ardour of affection 
born of the grasp of the Truth, and by real love for his 
fellow-men that need it, opens his lips to make Christ 
known, will find that there is nosurer way of increasing 
his own grasp of the Truth, and deepening his own union 
with Christ, than to seek to make others share in the 
blessings which are his life. ‘Fellow-helpers to the 
Truth ’—and with the Truth—I pray that we may be so 
more and more for the days or years that may yet 
remain to us. 


THE CHRISTIAN’S WITNESSES TO CHARACTER 
‘Demetrius hath a good report of all men, and of the truth itself.’"—3 JoHN 12. 


WHat a strange fate this Demetrius has had! He has 
narrowly escaped oblivion, yet he is remembered for 
ever and his name is known over all the world. But 
beyond the name nothing is certain. Who he was, 
where and when he lived, what he had done to earn 
the old Apostle’s commendation are unknown. All his 
surroundings are swallowed up in darkness, and there 
shines out only that one little point of light that he 
‘hath a good report ’—or, as the Revised Version better 
renders it, ‘he hath the witness of all men, and of the 
truth itself.” A great many brilliant reputations might 
be glad to exchange a fame that has filled the world 
for a little epitaph like that. 

I said we did not know anything about him. What 
if he should be the Demetrius whose astute appeal to 
profit and religion roused the shrine-makers at Ephesus 


80 Ill. JOHN [cu 1. 


and imperilled Paul's life? Of course, that is mere 
conjecture, and the identity of name is not a strong 
foundation to build on, for it was a very common one. 
If this disciple, thus praised by John, is our old 
acquaintance in Acts, what a change had come over 
him! Truly, to him, ‘old things had passed away, all 
things were become new. If we remember John's — 
long connection with Ephesus, the conjecture will 
perhaps seem reasonable. At all events, we do no 
harm if, perhaps led by sentiment, we give as much 
weight as we can to the supposition that here we have, 
reappearing within the Church, the old antagonist, 
and that ‘this Paul’ had ‘persuaded’ him, too, that 
‘they be no gods which are made with hands,’ and so 
had turned him to Jesus Christ. I wonder what became 
of his craft, and his silver shrines, if this is the same 
man as he who mustered the Ephesian silversmiths. 

But be that as it may, I desire—keeping in mind the 
alteration of rendering that I have suggested— hath 
witness of all men,’ and of the truth itself—to look at 
the sort of witnesses to character that a Christian man 
should be able to call. 

I. The first witness is Common Opinion. 

There is something wrong unless a Christian can put 
popular opinion into the witness-box in his favour. 
Of course there is a sense in which there is nothing 
more contemptible than seeking for that, and in which 
no heavier woe can come upon us, and no worse thing 
can be said about us, than that all men speak well of 
us. But,on the other hand, whether men speak well 
of us or not, there should be a distinctive characteristic 
plainly visible in us Christians which shall make all 
sorts of observers say to themselves, ‘ Well! that isa 
good man anyhow. I may not like him; I may not 





v.12] THE CHRISTIAN’S WITNESSES 81 


want to resemble him; but I cannot help seeing what 
sort of a man he is, and that there is no mistake about 
his genuine goodness.’ That is a testimony which 
Christians ought to be more ambitious of possessing 
than many of them are, and to lay themselves out 
more consciously to get, than most of them do. For 
bad men generally know a good one when they see 
him, and a great many of them 


‘Compound for sins they are inclined to 
By praising virtues they ’ve no mind to,’ 


and substitute admiration of uncongenial goodness for 
imitation of it. It is nothing uncommon to find the 
drunkard praising the temperate man, and evil-livers 
of all sorts recognising the beauty of their own 
opposites. The worst man in the world has an ideal 
of goodness in his conscience and mind, far purer and 
loftier than the best man has realised. 

And, again, it is a very righteous and good thing 
that people who are not Christians should have such 
extremely lofty and strict standards for the conduct 
of people that are. We sometimes smile when we see 
in the newspapers, for instance, sensational paragraphs 
about the crime of some minister, or clergyman, or 
some representative religious man. No doubt a dash 
of malice is present in these; but they are an uncon- 
scious testimony to the high ideal of character which 
attaches to the profession of Christianity. No similar 
paragraphs appear about the immoralities or crimes of 
non-religious men. They are not expected to be saints. 
_ But we are, and it is right that we should be thus ex- 
pected. The world does not demand of us more than it is 
entitled to do, or that our Lord has demanded. There 
is nothing more wholesome than that Christian people 

F 


82 III. JOHN [cnn 


should feel that there are lynx eyes watching them, 
and hundreds who will have a malicious joy if they 
defile their garments, and bring discredit on their 
profession. 

I have not the smallest objection to that; and I 
only wish that some of us who talk a great deal about 
the depth of our spiritual life could hear what is 
thought of us by our next-door neighbours, and our 
servants, and the tradesmen that we deal with, and all © 
those other folk that have no sympathy with our 
religion, and are, therefore, rigid judges of our 
eonduct. 

Then there is another consideration which I suggest - 
—that a great many good people think that it is their 
Christianity that makes folk speak ill of them, when 
it is their inconsistencies and not their Christianity 
that provoke the sarcasm. If you wrap up the 
treasure of your Christianity in a rough envelope of 
angularity, self-righteousness, sourness, censure, and 
eriticism, you need not wonder that people do not 
think much of your Christianity. It is not because 
Christian professors are good, but because they are 
not better, that ninety-nine out of a hundred of the 
uncharitable things that are said about them are said, 
and truly said. : 

So, dear friends, let us—not in any cowardly spirit 
of trying to disarm censure, nor because we have an 
itch to be caressed, like a parrot to have its head 
scratched, nor because we are pleased that men shall - 
think well of us, but because the judgment of the 


world is, in some degree, a more wholesome tribunal > 


than the judgment of our own consciences, and is, : 
in some sense, an anticipation, though with many 
mistakes, of the judgment of God—let us try to have a» 


| 


v.12] THE CHRISTIAN’S WITNESSES _ 83 


good report of ‘them that are without,’ and to be 
‘living epistles, known and read of all men,’ who will 
recognise the handwriting, and say, ‘That is Christ’s.’ 

Remember Daniel in that court where luxury and 
vice and sensuality, and base intrigues of all sorts 
rioted, and how they said of him, ‘ We shall find no 
occasion against him except it be concerning the law 
of his God.’ And let us try to earn the same kind of 
reputation; and be sure of this that, unless the world 
endorses our profession of Christianity, which it may 
do by disliking us—that is as it may be—there is grave 
reason to doubt whether the profession is a reality 
or not. 

II. Then there is another witness here mentioned— 
‘the truth itself.’ 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ witnesses for the man 
who witnesses for, and lives by it. A law broken 
testifies against the breaker; a law kept testifies for 
him. And so, if there be an approximation in the 
drift of our lives to the great ideal set forth in the 
law of God, that law will bear witness for us. But 
there must be in us the things that Christianity plainly 
requires before ‘the truth’ can be put into the witness- 
box for us. There must be manifest self-surrender. 

Let us go back to our supposition, which, of course, 
I freely admit is the only conjecture. If this is the 
Demetrius of the Acts, and he became a Christian, the 
first thing that ‘the truth’ required of him would be 
to shut up shop, to give up the lucrative occupation by 
which he had his wealth, and to cast in his lot with the 
men that were warring against idols. We, in our 
degree, will have, in some form or other, the same self- 
surrender to exercise. 

I have a letter which tells me the story of a man, 


84 III. JOHN (cH. t 


who for years has been trying to serve God, in the 
employ of some establishment where they sell wines 
and spirits, but now his conscience has smitten him, 
and he has had to give it up, and writes to ask me if I 
can find him a situation. Well! he is borne witness 
to by the truth itself, which he has loyally obeyed. 
We all, as Christians, have to do the like, and not only 
in the great acts of our lives to rid ourselves of every- 
thing that is contrary to the principles and command- 
ments of the Word, but in the small things to be ever 
seeking to come nearer and nearer to the ideal which 
He requires. 

When looking into the perfect law of liberty we see 
in its precepts our own characters reflected, if I may so 
say; because we keep these we may be sure that we 
are right. If we do not, we may be sure that we are 
wrong. The truth will bear witness against lives that 
are ordered in defiance of it, and for those which are 
conformed to it. It is possible that even the lofty and 
perfect examples of conduct and character which are in 
the history of the Master, and the principles that are 
drawn from Him, may testify of us; and if so, what 
quiet blessedness will be ours! 

III. But there is a last thought here. Christ Himself 
will be a witness. 

Ido not know that in these profound and mystical 
letters of the Apostle John, that great designation 
‘the truth’ is ever employed to mean only the body of 
teaching contained in what we call the Gospel. I 
think that there is always trembling in the expression, 
and sometimes predominating in it, in these letters, 
the personal application of which our Lord, as reported 
by the same Apostle when he was playing the part of 
Evangelist, gives us the warrant, when He says, ‘I am 





v.12) THE CHRISTIAN’S WITNESSES 85 


the Truth.’ And if that personal meaning is, as I 
think it is, shimmering through these words, then we 
may venture to deal with it separately in conclusion, 
and to say that the third witness is Jesus Christ 
Himself. 

‘With me,’ said Paul, ‘it is a very small matter to be 
judged of you, or of man’s judgment’; and that 
wholesome disregard of opinion is part of the attitude 
which we should bear towards popular or any human 
estimate-—but ‘he that judgeth me is the Lord.’ 

Now, notice Paul’s tenses. He does not say, ‘ He that 
is going to judge me, away out yonder in the indefinite 
future, at some great Day of Judgment after death, but 
he says, ‘ He that judgeth me’; and he means us to feel 
that, step by step, all through our lives, and in re- 
ference to each individual action at the time of its 
commission, there is an act of Christ’s judgment, in 
infallible determination by Him of the moral good or 
evil of our deed. So, moment by moment, we are at 
that tribunal, and act by act, we please or we displease 
Him; and of each feeling and thought, word, and deed, 
He says, ‘ Well,’ or ‘Ill, is it done.’ 

We may have Him for our Witness as well as for our 
Judge. How does He witness? To-day, and all through 
our earthly days, He will witness by His voice in the 
inner man, enlightened and made sensitive to evil by 
His own gracious presence. I believe that conscience 
is always the irradiation of the ‘Light that lighteth 
every man that cometh into the world’; but I believe 
that the conscience of the man who is born again by 
faith in Jesus Christ is in a more special manner the 
voice of Christ Himself speaking within him. And 
when there rises in the heart that quiet glow which 
follows His approval, there is a Witness that no voices 








86 III. JOHN (om. 1 


around, censuring or praising, have the smallest power 
to affect. Never mind what the world says if the 
voice within, which is the voice of Jesus Christ, testifies 
to integrity and to the desire to serve Him. 

And covet this, dear friends, as by far the best and 
the happiest thing that we can possess in this world, 
when we hear Him, in the recesses of our hearts, saying 
to us, ‘ Well done, good and faithful servant,’ then our 
thoughts are carried forward still further; and we 
may venture, with all our imperfections, to look 
enward to the day when again the Judge will be the 
Witness for us, even to the surprise of those whose acts 
He then attests. He Himself has taught usso, when He 
pictures the wondering servant saying, ‘Lord, when 
did I do all these things, which Thou hast discovered in 
me?’ And He has assured us that ‘never will He forget 
any of our works, and that at the last solemn hour, 
when we must be manifested before the Judgment-seat 
ef Christ, He Himself will confess our deeds before the 
Father and before His holy angels. It is well to have 
the witness of man; it is heaven to have the witness of 
the Truth Himself. 


ree > le 


JUDE 


THE COMMON SALVATION 


“The common ealvation.’"—JUDE 3 

‘The common faith,’—TirTvs i. 4. 
JoDE was probably one of Christ’s brothers, and a man 
of position and influence in the Church. He is writing 
to the whole early Christian community, numbering 
men widely separated from each other by nationality, 
race, culture, and general outlook on life; and he 
beautifully and humbly unites himself with them all 
as recipients of a ‘common salvation. Paul is writing 
to Titus, the veteran leader to a raw recruit. Wide 
differences of mental power, of maturity of religious 
experience, separated the two; and yet Paul beauti- 
fully and humbly associates himself with his pupil, as 
exercising a ‘common faith.’ 

Probably neither of the writers meant more than to 
bring himself nearer to the persons whom they were 
respectively addressing; but their language goes a 
great deal further than the immediate application of 
it. The ‘salvation’ was ‘common’ to Jude and his 
readers, as ‘the faith’ was to Paul and Titus, because 
the salvation and the faith are one, all the world over. 

It is for the sake of insisting upon this community, 
which is universal, that I have ventured to isolate 
these two fragments from their proper connection, and 
to bring them together. But you will notice that they 
take up the same thought at two different stages, as it 

8I 





























88 JUDE (cH. 3 


were. The one declares that there is but one remedy 
and healing for all the world’s woes; the other declares 
that there is but one way by which that remedy can 
be applied. All who possess ‘the common salvation” 
are so blessed because they exercise ‘the common faith.” 

I. Note the underlying conception of a universal 
deepest need. 

That Christian word ‘salvation’ has come to be 
threadbare and commonplace, and slips over people's 
minds without leaving any dint. We all think we 
understand it. Some of us have only the faintest and 
vaguest conception of what it means, and have never 
realised the solemn view of human nature and its 
necessities which lies beneath it. And I want to press 
that upon you now. The word ‘to save’ means either 
of two things—to heal from a sickness, or to deliver 
from a danger. These two ideas of sickness to be 
healed and of dangers to be secured from enter into 
the Christian use of the word. Underlying it is the 
implication that the condition of humanity is univer- 
sally that of needing healing of a sore sickness, and 
of needing deliverance from an overhanging and 
tremendous danger. Sin is the sickness, and the 
issues of sin are the danger. And sin is making myself 
my centre and my law, and so distorting and flingin 
out of gear, as it were, my relations to God. 

Surely it does not want many words to show tha 
that must be the most important thing about a man. 
Deep down below all superficialities there lies thi 
fundamental fact, that he has gone wrong with rega 
to God; and no amount of sophistication abou 
heredity and environment and the like can ever wi 
out the blackness of the fact that men willingly do 
break through the law, which commands us all to yiel 


v3] THE COMMON SALVATION 


ourselves to God, and not to set ourselves up as our 
own masters, and our own aims and ends, indepen- 
dently of Him. I say that is the deepest wound of 
humanity. 

In these days of social unrest there are plenty of 
voices round us that proclaim other needs as being 
clamant, but, oh, they are all shallow and on the sur- 
face as compared with the deepest need of all: and the 
men that come round the sick-bed of humanity and say, 
‘Ah, the patient is suffering from a lack of education,’ 
or ‘the patient is suffering from unfavourable en- 
vironment,’ have diagnosed the disease superficially. 
There is something deeper the matter than that, and 
unless the physician has probed further into the wound 
than these surface appearances, Iam afraid his remedy 
will go as short a way down as his conception of the 
evil goes. 

Oh, brethren, there is something else the matter 
with us than ignorance or unfavourable conditions, 
‘The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.’ 
The tap-root of all human miseries lies in the solemn 
fact of human transgression. That is a universal fact. 
Wide differences part us, but there is one thing that 
we have all in common: a conscience and a will that 
lifts itself against disliked good. Beneath all surface 
differences of garb there lies the same fact, the common 
sickness of sin. The king’s robe, the pauper’s uniform, 
the student’s gown, the mill-hand’s fustian, the naked 
savage’s brown skin, each cover a heart that is evil, and 
because it is evil, needs salvation from sickness and 
deliverance from danger. 

For do not forget that if it is true that men have 
driven their rebellious chariots through God’s law, 
‘hey cannot do that without bringing down God’s 


90 JUDE {cH 


hand upon them, and they ought not to be able to do 
it; and He would not be a loving God if it were not 
so. There are dangers; dangers from the necessary 
inevitable consequences, here and yonder, of rebellion 
against Him. 

Now, do not let us lose ourselves in generalities. 
That is the way in which many of us have all our 
lives long blunted the point of the message of the 
Gospel to our hearts. That is what we do with all 
sorts of important moral truths. For instance, I sup- 
pose there never was a time in your lives when you 
did not believe that all men must die. But I suppose 
most of us can remember some time when there came 
upon us, with a shock which made some of us cower 
before it as an unwelcome thing, the thought, ‘ And J 
must.’ 

The common sickness? Yes! ‘Thou art the man. 
Oh, brother, whatever you may have or whatever you 
may want, be sure of this: that your deepest needs 
will not be met, your sorest sickness will not be healed, 
your most tremendous peril not secured against, until 
the fact of your individual sinfulness and the conse- 
quences of that fact are somehow or other dealt with, 
stanched, and swept away. So much, then, for the 
first point. 

II. Now a word as to the common remedy. One 
of our texts gives us that—‘ the common salvation.’ 

You all know what I am going to say, and so, per- 
haps, you suppose that it is not worth while for me to 
say it. I dare say some of you think that it was not 
worth while coming here to hear the whole, thread- 
bare, commonplace story. Well! is it worth while 
for me to speak once more to men that have so often 
heard and so often neglected? Let metry. Oh, thatI 





v. 3] THE COMMON SALVATION 91 


could get you one by one, and drive home to each 
single soul that is listening to me, or perhaps, that is 
not listening, the message that I have to bring! 

‘The common salvation.’ There is one remedy for 
the sickness. There is one safety against the danger. 
There is only one, because it is the remedy for ail 
men, and it is the remedy for all men because it is the 
remedy for each. Jesus Christ deals, as no one else 
has ever pretended to deal, with this outstanding fact 
of my transgression and yours. 

He, by His death, as I believe, has saved the world 
from the danger, because He has set right the world’s 
relations to God. I am not going, at this stage of my 
sermon, to enter upon anything in the nature of discus- 
sion. My purpose is an entirely different one. I want 
to press upon you, dear brethren, this plain fact, that 
since there is a God, and since you and I have sinned, 
and since things are as they are, and the consequences 
will be as they will be, both in this world and in the 
next, we all stand in danger of death—death eternal, 
which comes from, and, in one sense, consists of, 
separation in heart and mind from God. 

You believe in a judgment day, do you not? 
Whether you do or not, you have only to open your 
eyes, you have only to turn them inwards, to see that 
even here and now, every sin and transgression and 
disobedience does receive its just recompense of reward. 
You cannot do a wrong thing without hurting your- 
self, without desolating some part of your nature, 
without enfeebling your power of resistance to evil 
ana aspiration after good, without lowering yourself 
in the scale of being, and making yourself ashamed to 
stand before the bar of your own conscience. You 
cannot do some wrong things, that some of you are 


92 JUDE [cH. 





fond of doing, without dragging after them conse 
quences, in this world, of anything but an agreeable | 
kind. Sins of the flesh avenge themselves in kind, as’ 
some of you young men know, and will know better 
in the days that are before you. Transgressions which 
are plain and clear in the eyes of even the world’s 
judgment draw after them damaged reputations, en- 
feebled health, closed doors of opportunity, and a whole 
host of such things. And all these are but a kind of 
premonitions and overshadowings of that solemn 
judgment that lies beyond. For all men will have to 
eat the fruit of their doings and drink that which they © 
have prepared. But on the Cross, Jesus Christ, the — 
Son of God, bore the weight of the world’s sin, yours | 
and mine and every man’s. There is one security 
against the danger; and it is that He, fronting the 
incidence of the Divine law, says, as He said to His 
would-be captors in the garden, ‘If ye seek Me, let 
these go their way.’ And they go their way by the 
power of His atoning death. 

Further, Jesus Christ imparts a life that cures the 
sickness of sin. 

What is the meaning of this Whitsuntide that all the 
Christian world is professing to keep to-day? Is it 
to commemorate a thing that happened nineteen cen- 
turies ago, when a handful of Jews for a few minutes — 
had the power of talking in other languages, and a 
miraculous light flamed over their heads and then dis- 
appeared? Was that all? Have you and I any share 
in it? Yes. For if Pentecost means anything it 
means this, that, all down through the ages, Jesus 
Christ is imparting to men that cleave to Him the real 
gift of a new life, free from all the sickness of the old, 
and healthy with the wholesomeness of His own perfect 


v.3] THE COMMON SALVATION 93 


sinlessness, so that, however inveterate and engrained 
a man’s habits of wrong-doing may have been, if he 
will turn to that Saviour, and let Him work upon him, 
he will be delivered from his evil. The leprosy of his 
flesh, though the lumps of diseased matter may be 
dropping from the bones, and the stench of corruption 
may drive away human love and sympathy, can be 
cleansed, and his flesh become like the flesh of a little 
child, if only he will trust in Jesus Christ. The sickness 
can be cured. Christ deals with men in the depth of 
their being. He will give you, if you will, a new life 
and new tastes, directions, inclinations, impulses, per- 
ceptions, hopes, and capacities, and the evil will pass 
away, and you will be whole. 

Ah, brethren, that is the only cure. I was talking a 
minute or two ago about imperfect diagnoses; and 
there are superficial remedies too. Men round us are 
trying, in various ways, to stanch the world’s wounds, 
to heal the world’s sicknesses. God forbid that I 
should say a word to discourage any such! I would 
rather wish them ten times more numerous than they 
are; but at the same time I believe that, unless you 
deal with the fountain at its head, you will never 
cleanse the stream, and that you must have the radical 
change, which comes by the gift of a new life in 
Christ, before men can be delivered from the sickness 
of their sins. And so all these panaceas, whilst they 
may do certain surface good, are, if I may quote a 
well-known phrase, like ‘pills against an earthquake,’ 
or like giving a lotion to cure pimples, when the whole 
head is sick and the whole heart faint. You will never 
eure the ills of humanity until you have delivered men 
from the dominion of their sin. 

Jesus Christ heals society by healing the individual. 


94 JUDE [ou 1. 


There is no other way of doing it. If the units are 
eorrupt the community cannot be pure. And the only 
way to make the units pure is that they shall have 
Christ on the Cross for their redemption, and Christ in 
the heart for their cleansing. And then all the things 
that men try to produce in the shape of social good 
and the like, apart from Him, will come as a conse- 
quence of the new state of things that arises when the 
individuals are renewed. Apart from Him all human 
attempts to deal with social evils are inadequate. 
There is a terrible disillusionising and disappointment 
awaiting many eager enthusiasts to-day, who think 
that by certain external arrangements, or by certain — 
educational and cultivated processes, they can mend 
the world’s miseries. You educate a nation. Well 
and good, and one result of it is that your bookshops 
get choked with trash, and that vice has a new avenue 
of approach to men’s hearts. You improve the eco- 
nomic condition of the people. Well and good, and 
one result of it is that a bigger percentage than ever of 
their funds finds its way into the drink-shop. You 
give a nation political power. Well and good, and one 
result of it is that the least worthy and the least wise 
have to be flattered and coaxed, because they are the 
rulers. Every good thing, divorced from Christ, 
becomes an ally of evil, and the only way by which the 
dreams and desires of men can be fulfilled is by the 
salvation which is in Him entering the individual 
hearts and thus moulding society. 

III. Now, lastly, the common means of possessing 
the common healing. 

My second text tells us what that is—‘the common 
faith. That is another of the words which is so 
familiar that it is unintelligible, which has been dinned 





v. 3] THE COMMON SALVATION 95 


into your ears ever since you were little children, and 
in the case of many of you excites no definite idea, and 
is supposed to be an obscure kind of thing that belongs 
to theologians and preachers, but has little to do with 
your daily lives. There is only one way by which this 
healing and safety that I have been speaking about 
can possibly find its way into a man’s heart. You have 
all been trained from childhood to believe that men 
are saved by faith, and a great many of you, I dare 
say, think that men might have been saved by some 
other way, if God had chosen to appoint it so. But 
that isa clear mistake. If it is true that salvation is 
a gift from God, then it is quite plain that the only 
thing that we require is an outstretched hand. If it is 
true that Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross has brought 
salvation to all the world, then it is quite plain that, 
His work being finished, we have no need to come in 
pottering with any works of ours, and that the only 
thing we have to dois to acceptit. Ifitis true that Jesus 
Christ will enter men’s hearts, and there give a new 
spirit and a new life, which will save them from their 
sins and make them free from the law of sin and death, 
then it is plain that the one thing that we have to do 
is to open our hearts and say ‘Come in, Thou King of 
Glory, come in!’ Because salvation is a gift; because 
it is the result of a finished work; because it is imparted 
to men by the impartation of Christ’s own life to them: 
for all these reasons it is plain that the only way by 
which God can save a man is by that man’s putting his 
trust in Jesus Christ. It is no arbitrary appointment. 
The only possible way of possessing ‘the common sal- 
vation’ is by the exercise of ‘the common faith.’ 

So we are all put upon one level, no matter how 
different we may be in attainments, in mental capacity 



























96 JUDE (cH. 


—geniuses and blockheads, scholars and ignoramu 
millionaires and paupers, students and savages, we art 
all on the one level. There is no carriage road into 
heaven. We have all to go in at the strait gate, and 
there is no special entry for people that come with 
their own horses; and so some people do not like to 
have to descend to that level, and to go with the ruck 
and the undistinguished crowd, and to be saved just in 
the same fashion as Tom, Dick, and Harry, and they 
turn away. 

Plenty of people believe in a ‘common salvation, 
meaning thereby a vague, indiscriminate gift that is 
flung broadcast over the mass. Plenty of people 
believe in a ‘common faith.’ We hear, for instance, 
about a ‘national Christianity, and a ‘national re- 
cognition of religion,’ and ‘Christian nations,’ and the 
like. There are no Christian nations except nations 
of which the individuals are Christians, and there is no 
‘common faith’ except the faith exercised in common 
by all the units that make up a community. 

So do not suppose that anything short of your own 
personal act brings you into possession of ‘ the common 
salvation.’ The table is spread, but you must take the 
bread into your own hands, and you must masticate it 
with your own teeth, and you must assimilate it in 
your own body, or it is no bread for you. The salva- 
tion is a ‘common, like one of the great prairies, but 
each separate settler has to peg off his own claim, and 
fencsa it in, and take possession of it, or he has no share 
‘x the broad land. So remember that ‘the common 
salvation’ must be made the individual salvation by the 
individual exercise of ‘the common faith.’ Cry, ‘Lord! I 
believe!’ and then you will have the right to say, ‘ The 
Lord is my strength; He also is become my salvation.’ 


as 


: 
| 


KEEPING OURSELVES IN THE LOVE 
OF GOD 


“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the 
Holy Ghost, 21. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our 
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.'.—JUDE 20, 21. 


Juve has been, in all the former part of the letter, 
pouring out a fiery torrent of vehement indignation 
and denunciation against ‘certain men’ who had 
‘crept’ into the Church, and were spreading gross im- 
morality there. He does not speak of them so much 
as heretics in belief, but rather as evil-doers in practice; 
and after the thunderings and lightning, he turns 
from them with a kind of sigh of relief in this emphatie, 
‘But, ye! beloved. The storm ends in gentle rain; 
and he tells the brethren who are yet faithful how they 
are to comport themselves in the presence of pre 
valent corruption, and where is their security and 
their peace. 

You will observe that in my text there is embedded, 
in the middle of it, a direct precept: ‘Keep yourselves 
in the love of God’; and that that is encircled by three 
clauses, like each other in structure, and unlike zt— 
‘building,’ ‘praying, ‘looking.’ The great diamond is 
surrounded by aring of lesser jewels. Why did Jude 
put two of these similar clauses in front of his direct 
precept, and one of them behind it? I think because 
the two that precede indicate the ways by which the 
precept can be kept, and the one that follows indicates 
the accompaniment or issue of obedience to the pre- 
cept. If that be the reason for the structure of my 
text, it suggests also to us the course which we had best 
pursue in the exposition of it. 

G 


98 JUDE or. 1 


I. So we have, to begin with, the great direct precept 
for the Christian life. 

‘Keep yourselves in the love of God.’ Now I need 
not spend a moment in showing that ‘ the love of God’ 
here means, not ours to Him, but His tous. It is that 
in which, as in some charmed circle, we are to keep 
ourselves. Now that injunction at once raises the 
question of the possibility of Christian men being out 
of the love of God, straying away from their home, 
and getting out into the open. Of course there is a 
sense in which His ‘tender mercies are over all His 
works,’ Just as the sky embraces all the stars and the 
earth within its blue round, so that love of God encom- 
passes every creature; and no man can stray so far 
away as that, in one profound sense, he gets beyond its 
pale. For no man can ever make God cease to love 
him. But whilst that is quite true, on the other side 
it is equally true that contrariety of will and continu- 
ance in evil deeds do so alter a man’s relation to the 
love of God as that he is absolutely incapable of re- 
ceiving its sweetest and most select manifestations, 
and can only be hurt by the incidence of its beams. 
The sun gives life to many creatures, but it slays some. 
There are crawling things that live beneath a stone, 
and when you turn it up and let the arrows of the 
sunbeams smite down upon them, they squirm and 
die. Itis possible for a man so to set himself in an- 
tagonism to that great Light as that the Light shall 
hurt and not bless and soothe. 

It is also possible for a Christian man to step out of 
the charmed circle, in the sense that he becomes all 
unconscious of that Light. Then to him it comes to 
the same thing that the love shall be non-existent, and 
that it shall be unperceived. If I choose to make my 





vs.20,21] KEEPING IN THE LOVE OF GOD 99 


abode on the northern side of the mountain, my ther- 
mometer may be standing at ‘freezing,’ and I may be 
shivering in all my limbs on Midsummer Day at noon- 
tide. And so it is possible for us Christian people to 
stray away out from that gracious abode, to pass from 
the illuminated dise into the black shadow; and 
though nothing is ‘ hid from the heat thereof,’ yet we 
may derive no warmth and no enlightening from the 
all-pervading beams. We have to ‘keep ourselves in 
the love of God.’ 

Then that suggests the other more blessed possibility, 
that amidst all the distractions of daily duties, and the 
solicitations of carking cares, and the oppression of 
heavy sorrows, it is possible for us to keep ourselves 
perpetually in the conscious enjoyment of the love of 
God. I need not say how this ideal of the Christian 
life may be indefinitely approximated to in our daily 
experiences; nor need I dwell upon the sad contrast 
between this ideal unbrokenness of conscious sunning 
ourselves in the love of God, and the reality of the 
lives that most of us live. But, brethren, if we more 
fully believed that we can keep up, amidst all the dust 
and struggle of the arena, the calm sweet sense of 
God's love, our lives would be different. Nightingales 
will sing in a dusty copse by the roadside, however 
loud the noise of traffic may be upon the highway. 
And we may have, all through our lives, that song, un- 
broken and melodious. That sub-consciousness under- 
lying our daily work, ‘like some sweet beguiling 
melody, so sweet, we know not we are listening to it,’ 
may be ever present with each of us in our daily work, 
like some ‘hidden brook in the leafy month of June,’ 
that murmurs beneath the foliage, and yet is audible 
through all the wood. 











100 JUDE (cu. n 


And what a peaceful, restful life ours would be, if we 
eould thus be like John, leaning on the Master's bosom. 
We might have a secret fortress into the central 
ehamber of which we could go, whither no sound of 
the war in the plains could ever penetrate. We might, 
like some dwellers in a mountainous island, take refuge 
in a central glen, buried deep amongst the hills, where 
there would be no sound of tempest, though the winds 
were fighting on the surface of the sea, and the spin- 
drift was flying before them. It is possible to ‘keep 
ourselves in the love of God.’ And if we keep in that 
fortress we are safe. If we go beyond its walls we 
are sure to be picked off by the well-aimed shots 
ef the enemy. So, then, that is the central command- 
ment for the Christian life. 

II. Now let me turn to consider the methods by 
which we can thus keep ourselves in the love of God. 

These are two: one mainly bearing on the outward, 
the other on the inward, life. By ‘building up your- 
selves on your most holy faith’: that is the one. By 
‘ praying in the Holy Ghost’: that is the other. Let us 
hook at these two. 

‘Building up yourselves on your most holy faith.’ I 
suppose that ‘faith’ here is used in its ordinary sense. 
Some would rather prefer to take it in the latter, eccle- 
siastical sense, by which it means, not the act 9f belief, 
but the aggregate of the things believed.—‘ Our most 
holy faith,’ as it is called by quotation—I think mis- 
quotation—of this passage. But I do not see that 
there is any necessity for that meaning. The words 
are perfectly intelligible in their ordinary meaning. 
What Jude says is just this: ‘Your trust in Jesus 
Christ has in it a tendency to produce holiness, and 
that is the foundation on which you are to build a 


vs.20,21] KEEPING IN THE LOVE OF GOD 101 


great character. Build up yourselves on your most 
holy faith. For although it is not what the world’s 
ethics recognise, the Christian theory of morality is 
this, that it all rests upon trust in God manifested 
to us in Jesus Christ. Faith is the foundation of all 
supreme excellence and nobility and beauty of char- 
acter; because, for one thing, it dethrones self, and 


_enthrones God in our hearts; making Him our aina 


and our law and our supreme good; and because, for 
another thing, our trust brings us into direct union 
with Him, so that we receive from Him the power 
thus to build up a character. 

Faith is the foundation. Ay! but faith is only the 
foundation. It is ‘the potentiality of wealth,’ but it is 
not the reality. ‘All things are possible to him that 
believeth’; but all things are not actual except on con- 
ditions. A man may have faith, as a great many pro- 
fessing Christians have it, only as a ‘fire-escape,’ a 
means of getting away from hell, or have it only asa 
hand that is stretched out to grasp certain initial bless- 
ings of the spiritual life. But that is not its full glory 
nor its real aspect. It is meant to be the beginning in 
us of ‘all things that are lovely and of good report.’ 
What would you think of a man that carefully put in 
the foundations for a house, and had all his building 
materials on the ground, and let them lie there? And 
that is what a great many of you Christian people do, 
who ‘have fled for refuge,’ as you say, ‘to the hope set be- 
fore you in the Gospel’; and who have never wrought 
out your faith into noble deeds. Remember what the 
Apostle says, ‘Faith which worketh’; and worketh 
‘by love. It is the foundation, but only the foun- 
dation. 

The work of building a noble character on that firm 





















102 JUDE (cu. 1 


foundation is never-ending. ‘Tis a life-long task ‘till 
the lump be leavened.’ The metaphor of growth by 
building suggests effort, and it suggests continuity; 
and it suggests slow, gradual rearing up, course 
upon course, stone by stone. Some of us have done 
nothing at it for a great many years. You will pass, 
sometimes, in our suburbs, a row of houses begun by 
some builder that has become bankrupt; and there are 
mouldering bricks and gaping empty places ‘for the 
windows, and the rafters decaying, and stagnant 
water down in the holes that were meant for the 
eellars. That is like the kind of thing that hosts of 
people who call themselves Christians have built. 
‘But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most 
holy faith, .. . Keep yourselves in the love.’ 

Then the other way of building is suggested in the 
next clause, ‘praying in the Holy Ghost’—that is to 
say, prayer which is not mere utterance of my own 
petulant desires which a great deal of our ‘prayer’ is, 
but which is breathed into us by that Divine Spirit 
that will brood over our chaos, and bring order out of 
eonfusion, and light and beauty out of darkness, and 
weltering sea :— 


‘The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed, 
If Thou the Spirit give by which I pray.’ 


As Michael Angelo says, such prayer inspired and 
warmed by the influences of that Divine Spirit playing 
upon the dull flame of our desires, like air injected into 
a grate where the fire is half out, such prayers are 
eur best help in building. For who is there that 

honestly tried to build himself up ‘for a habitation o 
God’ but has felt that it must be ‘through a Spirit” 
mighcier than himself, who will overcome his weak- 


vs.20,21] KEEPING IN THE LOVE OF GOD 108 


nesses and arm him against temptation? No man who 
honestly endeavours to re-form his character but is 
brought very soon to feel that he needs a higher help 
than his own. And perhaps some of us know how, 
when sore pressed by temptation, one petition for help 
brings a sudden gush of strength into us, and we feel 
that the enemy’s assault is weakened. 

Brethren, the best attitude for building is on our 
knees; and if, like Cromwell’s men in the fight, we go 
into the battle singing, ; 


‘Let God arise, and scattered 
Let all His enemies be,’ 


we shall come out victorious. ‘Ye, beloved, building 

and praying, keep yourselves.’ 
_ III. Now, lastly, we have here in the final clause the 
fair prospect visible from our home, in the love 
of God. 
‘Looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ 
| unto eternal life.’ 

After all building and praying, we need ‘the mercy.’ 

) Jude has been speaking in his letter about the destruc- 
| tion of evil-doers, when Christ the Judge shall come. 
_ And I suppose that that thought of final judgment is 
' still in his mind, colouring the language of my text, 
' and that it explains why he speaks here of ‘the mercy 
‘of our Lord Jesus Christ’ instead of, as is usual in 
Scripture, ‘the mercy of God.’ He is thinking of that 
| last Day of Judgment and retribution, wherein Jesus 
Christ is to be the Judge of all men, saints as well as 
sinners, and therefore he speaks of mercy as bestowed 

by Him then on those who have ‘kept themselves in the 

love of God.’ Ah! we shall need it. The better we 
,are the more we know how much wood, hay, stubble, 


| 


ia 
’ 


104 JUDE 

























we have built into our buildings; and the more we 
eonscious of that love of God as round us, the me 
we shall feel the unworthiness and imperfection of 
our response to it. The best of us, when we lie down 
to die, and the wisest of us, as we struggle on in life, 
realise most how all our good is stained and imperfect, 
and that after all efforts we have to ery ‘God be 
merciful to me a sinner.’ 

Not only so, but our outlook and confident expec 
tion of that mercy day by day, and in its perfect fe 
at least, depends upon our keeping ourselves ‘in the 
love of God.’ We have to go high up the hill before we 
ean see farover the plain. Our home in that love com- 
mands a fair prospect. When we stray from it, we los 
sight of the blue distance. Our hope of ‘the mercy of 
God unto eternal life’ varies with our present con 
sciousness and experience of His love. 

That mercy leads on to eternal life. We get many of 
its manifestations and gifts here, but these are but the 
pale blossoms of a plant not in its native habita 
nor sunned by the sunshine which can draw forth 
its fragrance and colour. 

We have to look forward for the adequate exp 
sion of the mercy of God to all that fulness of perfec 
blessedness for all our faculties, which is summed uf 
in the one great word— ‘life everlasting.’ | 

So our hope ought to be as continuous as the manife 
tation of the mercy, and, like it, should last until th 
eternal life has come. All ourgifts here are fragment 
ary and imperfect. Here we drink of brooks by the 
way. There we shall slake our thirst at the fountaiz 
head. Here we are given ready money for the day’ 
expenses. There we shall be free of the treas 
house, where lie the uncoined and uncounted ma 


vs. 20,21] WITHOUT STUMBLING 105 














of bullion, which God has laid up in store for them 
that fear Him. So, brethren, let us hope perfectly for 
the perfect manifestation of the mercy. Let us set 
ourselves to build up, however slowly, the fair fabrie 
of a life and character which shall stand when the 
tempest levels all houses built upon the sand. Let us 
open our spirits to the entrance of that Spirit who 
helps the infirmities of our desires as well as of our 
efforts. Thus let us keep ourselves in the charmed 
circle of the love of God, that we may be safe as a 
garrison inits fortress, blessed as a babe on its mother’s 
breast. 

Jude’s words are but the echo of the tenderer words 
of his Master and ours, when He said,‘ As My Father 
hath loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide ye in My 
love. If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in 


_ My love.’ 


WITHOUT STUMBLING 


‘Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you fault- 
less before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25. To the only wise God 
our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. 
Amen.’—JUDE 2, 25. 


I POINTED out in a recent sermon on a former verse of 
this Epistle that the earlier part of it is occupied with 
vehement denunciations of the moral corruptions that 
had crept into the Church, and that the writer turns 
away from that spectacle earnestly to exhort the 
Christian community to ‘keep themselves in the love 
of God,’ by ‘ building themselves upon their most holy 
faith, and praying in the Holy Ghost.’ But that is not 


_allthat Jude has to say. It is wise to look round on 


the dangers and evils that tempt; it is wise to look 
inward to the weaknesses that may yield to the temp- 


























¥ 
106 JUDE (cu. 1 


tations. But every look on surrounding dangers, an 
every look at personal weakness, ought to end in 
look upwards ‘ to Him that is able to keep’ the weakest 
‘from falling’ before the assaults of the strongest foes. 

The previous exhortation, which I have discussed, 
might seem to lay almost too much stress on our ow 
strivings—‘ Keep yourselves in the love of God.’ Here 
is the complement to it: ‘Unto Him that is able 
keep you from falling.’ So denunciations, exhortations, 
warnings, all end in the peaceful gaze upon God, and 
the triumphant recognition of what He is able to do 
for us. We have to work, but we have to remember 
that ‘it is He that worketh in us both to will and to de 
of His own good pleasure.’ 

I. So I think that, looking at these great words, the 
first thing to be noted is the solitary, all-sufficient stay 
for our weakness. 

‘To the only wise God our Saviour.’ Now it is to be 
noticed, as those of you who use the Revised Version 
will observe, that the word ‘wise’ seems to have crept 
in here by the reminiscence of another similar doxology 
in the Epistle to the Romans, and was probably in- 
serted by some scribe who had not grasped the grea 
thought of which the text is the expression. It ough 
to read, ‘to the only God, our Saviour.’ The writer’ 
idea seems to be just this—he has been massing ina 
dark crowd the whole multitudinous mob of corrup- 
tions and evils that were threatening the faith and 
righteousness of professing Christians. And he turns 
away from all that rabble, multitudinous as they are 
to look to the One who is all-sufficient, solitary, and 
enough. ‘The only God’ is the refuge from the crowé 
of evils that dog our steps, and from the temptations 
and foes that assail us at every point. 



































vs.24,25)} WITHOUT STUMBLING 107 


This is the blessed peculiarity of the Christian faith, 
that it simplifies our outlook for good, that it brings 
everything to the one point of possessing the one 
Person, beyond whom there is never any need that 
the heart should wander seeking after love, that the 
mind should depart in its search for truth, or that the 
will should stray in its quest after authoritative com- 
mands. There is no need toseek a multitude of goodly 
pearls; the gift of Christianity to men’s torn and dis- 
tracted hearts and lives is that all which makes them 
rich, and all which makes them blessed, is sphered and 
included in the one transcendent pearl of price, the 
‘only God.’ 

I have been in Turkish mosques, the roofs of which 
are held up by a bewildering forest of slender pillars. 
I have been in cathedral chapter-houses, where one 
strong stone shaft in the centre carries all the beauty 
_ of the branching roof; and I know which is the highest 
_ work and the fairest. Why should we seek in the 
| manifold for what we can never find, when we can 
|| find it all in the ONE? The mind seeks for unity in 
_ truth; the heart seeks for oneness in love; no man is 
' at rest until he has all his heart’s treasures in one 
person ; and no man who foolishly puts all his treasures 
in one creature-person but is bringing down upon his 
own head sorrow. 

Do you remember that pathetic inscription in one of 
our country churches, over a little child, whose fair 
image is left us by the pencil of Reynolds: ‘ Her parents 
put all their wealth in one vessel, and the shipwreck 
was total’? It is madness to trust to but one refuge, 
| unless that refuge is the only God. If we, like the 
disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, are wise, we 
shall lift up our eyes and ‘see no man any more, save 


108 JUDE (cu. 1 


Jesus only. He can be our solitary Stay, Refuge, 
Wealth, and Companion, because He is sufficient, and 
He abides for ever. 

But there is another peculiarity that I would point 
out in these words, and that is the unusual attribution 
to God, the Father, of the name ‘Saviour’—‘ the orn 
God our Saviour.’ The same various reading which 
strikes out ‘ wise’ inserts here, as you will see in the 
Revised Version, ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ But 
although the phraseology is almost unique, the mes 
ing is in full harmony with the scope of New Testament 
teaching. It is a fault of evangelical and orthodox 
people that they have too often spoken and thought 
as if Jesus Christ’s work modified and changed the 
Father's will, and as if God loved men because Christ 
died for them. The fact is precisely the convers 
Christ died because God loved men; and the fonts 
source of the salvation, of which the work of Jesu 
Christ is the channel, bringing it to men, is the eternal, 
unmotived, infinite love of God the Father. Christ 
‘the well-beloved Son,’ because He is the executor ¢ 
the Divine purpose, and all which He has done is don 
in obedience to the Father's will. If I might use a 
metaphor, the love of God is, as it were, a deep seclude¢ 
lake amongst the mountains, and the work of Christ is 
the stream that comes from it, and brings its waters 
to be life to the world. Let us never forget that, how- 
ever we love to turn our gratitude and our praise t 
Christ the Saviour, my text goes yet deeper into the 
councils of Eternity when it ascribes the praise ‘ to 
only God our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ 

II. And now notice the possibility of firm standin 
in the slippery present, 

‘To Him that is able to keep us from falling.’ Ne 


































ve.24,25) WITHOUT STUMBLING 109 


the word that is rendered ‘from falling’ is even more 
emphatic, and carries a larger promise. For it literally 
means ‘ without stumbling, and stumbling is that which 
precedes falling. We are not only kept from falling, 
we are kept even from stumbling over the stumbling- 
stones that are in the way. The metaphor, perhaps, 
was suggested by the words of Isaiah, who, in one of 
his lovely images, describes God as ‘leading Israel 
through the depths as a horse in the desert, that they 
stumble not. Do you not see the picture? The 
nervous, susceptible animal, slipping and sliding over 
the smooth rock, in a sweat of terror, and the owner 
laying a kindly hand and a firm one on the bridle-rein, 
and speaking soothing words of encouragement, and 
leading it safely, that it stumble not. So God is able 
to lay hold of us when we are in perilous places, and 
when we cry, ‘My foot slippeth,’ His mercy will hold usup. 

Isthat rhetoric? Isthat merely pulpittalk? Brethren, 
unless we lay firm hold of this faith, that God can and 
does touch and influence hearts that wait upon Him, 
so as by His Spirit and by His Word, which is the sword 
of the Spirit, to strengthen their feeble good, and to 
weaken their strong evil, to raise what is low, to 
illumine what is dark, and to support what is weak, 
we have not come to understand the whole wealth of 
possible good and blessedness which lies in the Gospel. 
This generation has forgotten far too much the place 
which the work of God’s Holy Spirit on men’s spirits 
fillsin the whole proportioned scheme of New Testa- 
ment revelation. It is because we believe that so 
little, in comparison with the clearness and strength 
of our faith in the work of Jesus Christ, the atoning 
sacrifice, that so many of us find it so foreign to our 
experience that any effluences from God come into our 


































110 JUDE [cH.1 


hearts, and that our spirits are conscious of being 
quickened and lifted by His Spirit! Ah! we might feel, 
far more than any of us do, His hand on the bridle-rein. 
We might feel, far more than any of us do, His strong 
upholding, keeping our feet from slipping as well as 
‘falling. And if we believed and expected a Divine 
Spirit to enter into our spirits and to touch our hearts, 
the expectation would not be in vain. 

I beseech you, believe that a solid experience and 
meaning lies in that word ‘able to keep us from stum- 
bling.’ If we have that Divine Spirit moving in our 
spirits, moulding our desires, lifting our thoughts, con- 
firming our wills, then the things that were stumbling- 
stones—that is to say, that appealed to our worst 
selves, and tempted us to evil—will cease to be so. The 
higher desires will kill the lower ones, as the sunshine 
is popularly supposed to put out household fires. If 
we have God’s upholding help, the stumbling-stone will 
no more be a stumbling-stone, but a stepping-stone to 
something higher and better; or like one of those 
erections that we see outside old-fashioned houses of 
entertainment, where three or four steps are piled 
together, in order to enable a man the more easily to 
mount his horse and go onhis way. For every tempta- 
tion overcome brings strength to the overcomer. 

Only let us remember ‘Him that is able to keep.” 
Able! What is wanted that the ability may be brought 
into exercise; that the possibility of which I hav 
spoken, of firm standing amongst those slippery places, 
shall become a reality? What is wanted? Itis of n 
use to have a stay unless you lean on it. You ma 
have an engine of ever so many horse-power in th 
engine-house, but unless the power is transmitted by 
shafts and belting, and brought to the machinery, no 
a spindie will revolve. He is able to keep us fro 


ve.24,25] WITHOUT STUMBLING 111 


stumbling, and if you trust Him, the ability will become 
actuality, and you will be kept from falling. If you 
do not trust Him, all the ability will lie in the engine- 
house, and the looms and the spindles will stand idle. 
So the reason why—and the only reason why—with 
such an abundant, and over-abundant, provision for 
never falling, Christian men do stumble and fall, is 
their own lack of faith. 

Now remember that this text of mine follows on the 
heels of that former text which bade us ‘build our- 
selves, and ‘keep ourselves in the love of God.’ So you 
get the peculiarity of Christian ethics, and the blessed- 
ness of Christian effort, that it is not effort only, but 
effort rising from, and accompanied with, confidence 
in God’s keeping hand. There is all the difference be- 
tween toiling without trust and toiling because we do 
trust. And whilst, on the one hand, we have to exhort 
to earnest faith in the upholding hand of God, we have 
to say on the other, ‘Let that faith lead you to obey 
the apostolic command, “Stand fast in the evil day 
... taking unto you the whole armour of God.”’ 

Ill. Further, we have here the possible final perfect- 
ing in the future. 

‘To Him that is able... to present you faultless 
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.’ 
Now that word rendered ‘faultless’ has a very beauti- 
ful meaning. It is originally applied to the require- 
ment that the sacrificial offerings shall be without 
blemish. It is then applied more than once to our 
Lord Himself, as expressive of His perfect, immaculate 
sinlessness. And it is here applied to the future con- 
dition of those who have been kept without stumbling; 
suggesting at once that they are, as it were, presented 

before God at last, stainless as the sacrificial lamb; 
and that they are conformed to the image of the Lamb 



























112 JUDE fom 


of God ‘without blemish and without spot. M 
perfectness, absolute and complete; a standing ‘ bef 
the presence of His glory,’ the realisation and the 
vision of that illustrious light, too dazzling for eyes 
veiled by flesh to look upon, but of which hereafter the 
purified souls will be capable, in accordance with that 
great promise, ‘ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
shall see God’; ‘ with exceeding joy, which refers not 
to the joy of Him that presents, though that is great, 
but to the joy of them who are presented. So these 
three things are the possibilities held out before su 
poor creatures as we. And miraculous as it is, that 
all stains should melt away from our characters— 
though I suppose not the remembrance of them from our 
consciousness—and be shaken off as completely as the 
foul water of some stagnant pond drops from the whi 
swan-plumage, and leaves no stain; that perfecting 
the natural issue of the present being kept from 
stumbling. 

You have seen sometimes in a picture-dealer’s shop 
window a canvas on which a face is painted, one half 
of which has been cleaned, and the other half is still 
covered with some varnish or filth. That is like the 
Christian character here. But the restoration and the 
eleansing are going to be finished up yonder; and the 
great Artist’s ideal will be realised, and each redeemed 
soul will be perfected in holiness. 

But as I said about the former point, soI say abou 
this, He is able to do it. What is wanted to make the 
ability an actuality? Brethren, if we are to stand 
perfect, at last, and be without fault before the Thro 
of God, we must begin by letting Him keep us from 
stumbling here. Then, and only then, may we ex 
that issue. 


_ -vs.24,25) WITHOUT STUMBLING 118 


Now I was going to have said a word, in the last 
place, about the Divine praise which comes from all 
these dealings, but your time will not allow me to 
dwell upon it. Only let me remind you that all these 

things, which in my text are ascribed to God, ‘ glory 
and majesty, dominion and power,’ are ascribed to Him 
because He is our Saviour, and able to keep us from 
stumbling, and to ‘present us faultless before His 
glory. That is to say, the Divine manifestation of 
Himself in the work of redemption is the highest of 
His self-revealing works. Men are not presumptuous 
when they feel that they are greater than sun and 
stars; and that there is more in the narrow room of a 
human heart than in all the immeasurable spaces of 
the universe, if these are empty of beings who can love 
and inquire and adore. And we are not wrong when 
we say that the only evil in the universe is sin. There- 
fore, we are right when we say that high above all 
other works of which we have experience is that 
miracle of love and Divine power which can not only 
keep such feeble creatures as we are from stumbling, 
but can present us stainless and faultless before the 
Throne of God. 

So our highest praise, and our deepest thankfulness, 
ought to arise, and will arise—if the possibility has 
become, in any measure, an actuality, in ourselves—to 
Him, because our experience will be that of the 
Psalmist who sang, ‘When I said, my foot slippeth, 
Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. Let us take the 
comfort of believing, ‘He shall not fall, for the Lord 
is able to make him stand’; and let us remember the 
expansion which another Apostle gives us when, with 
precision, he discriminates and says, ‘Kept by the 


power of God through faith, unto salvation.’ 
a 


REVELATION 


THE GIFTS OF CHRIST AS WITNESS, RISEN 
AND CROWNED 


‘Grace be unto you, and peace, from ... 5. Jesus Christ, who is the faithful 
‘Witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the 
earth.'—Rev. L 4, 5. 


So loftily did John in his old age come to think of his 
Lord. The former days of blessed nearness had not 
faded from his memory; rather he understood their 
meaning better than when he was in the midst of their 
sweetness. Years and experience, and the teaching of 
God's Spirit, had taught Him to understand what the 
Master meant when He said :—‘ It is expedient for you 
that I go away’; for when He had departed John saw 
Him a great deal more clearly than ever he had done 
when he beheld Him with his eyes. He sees Him now 
invested with these lofty attributes, and, so to speak, 
involved in the brightness of the Throne of God. For 
the words of my text are not only remarkable in them- 
selves, and in the order in which they give these three 
aspects of our Lord's character, but remarkable also in 
that they occur in an invocation in which the Apostle 
is calling down blessings from Heaven on the heads of 
his brethren. The fact that they do so occur points a 
question: Is it possible to conceive that the writer of 
these words thought of Jesus Christ as less th 
divine? Could he have asked for ‘ grace and peace’ to 


come down on the Asiatic Christians from the divin 
14 






















yv.4] GIFTS OF THE CROWNED CHRIST 115 


Father, and an Abstraction, and a Man? A strange 

Trinity that would be, most certainly. Rightly or 

wrongly, the man that said, ‘Grace and peace be unto 

you, from Him which is, and which was, and which is 
to come, and from the seven Spirits which are before 

His Throne, and from Jesus Christ,’ believed that the 

name of the One God was Father, Son, and Holy 

Spirit. 

But it is not so much to this as to the connection of 
these three clauses with one another, and to the bearing 
of all three on our Lord’s power of giving grace and 
peace to men’s hearts, that I want to turn your atten- 
tion now. I take the words simply as they lie here; 
asking you to consider, first, how grace and peace come 
to us ‘from the faithful Witness’; how, secondly, they 
come ‘from the first begotten from the dead’; and 
how, lastly, they come ‘from the Prince of the kings 
of the earth.’ 

I. Now as to the first of these, ‘the faithful Witness.’ 
All of you who have any familiarity with the language 
of Scripture will know that a characteristic of all the 
writings which are ascribed to the Apostle John, viz., 
his Gospel, his Epistles, and the book of the Revelation, 
is their free and remarkable use of that expression, 
‘Witness. It runs through all of them, and is one of 
the many threads of connection which tie them all 
together, and which constitute a very strong argument 
for the common authorship of the three sets of writings, 

_ yehemently as that has of late been denied. 

But where did John get this word? According to 
his own teaching he got it from the lips of the Master, 
who began His career with these words, ‘We speak 
that we do know, and bear witness to that we have 
_ seen,’ and who all but ended it with these royal words, 





116 REVELATION [cx 1 


























‘Thou sayest that lama King! For this cause came I 
into the world, that I should bear witness unto the 
Truth. Christ Himself, then, claimed to be in 
eminent and special sense the witness to the world. 

The witness of what? What was the substance of 
His testimony? It was a testimony mainly about God. 
The words of my text substantially cover the same 
ground as His own words, ‘I have declared Thy name 
unto My brethren,’ and as those of the Apostle: ‘The 
only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, 
He hath declared Him.’ And they involve the se 
ideas as lie in the great name by which He is called in 
John’s Gospel, ‘the Word of God.’ 

That is to say, all our highest and purest and best 
knowledge of God comes from the life and conduct — 
character of Jesus Christ. His revelation is no me 
revelation by words. Plenty of men have talked about 
God, and said noble and true and blessed things about 
Him. Scattered through the darkness of heathenism, 
and embedded in the sinfulness of every man’s heart, 
there are great and lofty and pure thoughts about 
Him, which to cleave to and follow out would bring 
strength and purity. It is one thing to speak about 
God in words, maxims, precepts; it is another thing 
show us God in act and life. The one is theology, the 
other is gospel. The one is the work of man, the othe 
is the exclusive prerogative of God manifested in the 
flesh. 

It is not Christ’s words only that make Him the 
‘Amen,’ the ‘ faithful and true Witness,’ but in additior 
to these, He witnesses by all His deeds of grace, and 
truth, and gentleness, and pity; by all His yearnings 
over wickedness, and sorrow, and sinfulness; by al 
His drawings of the profligate and the outcast and 


v.4] GIFTS OF THE CROWNED CHRIST 117 


guilty to Himself, His life of loneliness, His death of 
shame. In all these, He is showing us not only the 
sweetness of a perfect human character, but in the 
sweetness of a perfect human character, the sweeter 
sweetness of our Father, God. The substance of His 
testimony is the Name, the revelation of the character 
of His Father and our Father. 

This name of ‘witness’ bears likewise strongly upon 
the characteristic and remarkable manner of our Lord’s 
testimony. The task of a witness is to affirm; his 
business is to tell his story—not to argue about it, 
simply to state it. And there is nothing more charac- 
teristic of our Lord’s words than the way in which, 
without attempt at proof or argumentation, He makes 
them stand on their own evidence; or, rather, depend 
upon His veracity. All His teaching is characterised 
by what would be insane presumption in any of us, 
and would at once rule us out of court as unfit to be 
listened to on any grave subject, most of all on religious 
truth. For His method is this: ‘ Verily, verily, I say 
to you! Take iton My word. You ask Me for proof 
of My saying: I am the proof of it; Iassertit. That 
is enough for you!’ Not so do men speak. So does 
the faithful Witness speak; and instead of the con- 
science and common-sense of the world rising up and 
saying, ‘This is the presumption of a religious madman 
and dictator, they have bowed before Him and said, 
‘Thou art fairer than the children of men! Grace is 
poured into Thy lips.’ He is the ‘faithful Witness, 
who lays His own character and veracity as the basis 
of what He has to say, and has no mightier word by 
which to back His testimony than His own sovereign 
‘Verily! verily!’ 

The name bears, too, on the ground of His testimony. 


118 REVELATION [cH. . 


A faithful witness is an eye-witness. And that is 
what Christ claims when He witnesses about God. 
‘We speak that we do know, we testify that we have 
seen. ‘I speak that which I have seen with M 
Father!’ Thereis nothing more remarkable about th 
oral portion of our Lord's witness than the absence of 
any appearance, such as marks all the wisest word 
of great men, of having come to them as the result of 
patient thought. We never see Him in the act of 
arriving ata truth, nor detect any traces of the process 
of forming opinions in Him. He speaks as if He he 
seen, and His tone is that of one who is not thinking 
out truth or grasping at it, but simply narrating tha 
which lies plain and clear ever before His eyes. I 4 
not ask you what that involves, but I quote His own 
statement of what it involves: ‘No man hath ascended 
up into Heaven save He that came down from Heaver 
even the Son of Man which is in Heaven.’ 

There have been plenty of great and gracious words 
about God, and there have been plenty of black and 
blasphemous thoughts of Him. They rise in our ow 
hearts, and they come from our brothers’ tongue 
Men have worshipped gods gracious, gods loving, g 
angry, gods petulant, gods capricious; but God afte 
the fashion of the God whom Jesus Christ avouches 
us, we have nowhere else, a God of absolute love, whe 
‘so loved the world’—that is, you and me—‘that Hi 
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish.’ 

And now I ask, is there not grace and peace pre 
to us all from that faithful Witness, and from 
credible testimony? Surely the one thing that th 
world wants is to have the question answered whol =} 
there really is a God in Heaven that cares any 






























yv.4] GIFTS OF THE CROWNED CHRIST 119 


about me, and to whom I can trust myself wholly; 
believing that He will lift me out of all my meannesses 
and sins, and make me clean and pure and blessed like 
Himself. Surely that is the deepest of all human needs, 
howsoever little men may know it. And sure I am 
that none of us can find the certitude of such a Father 
unless we give credence to the message of Jesus Christ 
our Lord. 
This day needs that witness as much as any other; 
sometimes in our unbelieving moments, we think more 
than any other. There is a wave—I believe it is only a 
Wwave—passing over the cultivated thought of Europe 
at present which will make short work of all belief in 
a God that does not grip fast to Jesus Christ. As far 
as I can read the signs of the times, and the tendency 
of modern thinking, it is this:—either an absolute 
Silence, a Heaven stretching above us, blue and clear, 
and cold, and far away, and dumb; or else a Christ that 
speaks—He or none! The Theism that has shaken 
itself loose from Him will be crushed, I am sure, in the 
encounter with the agnosticism and the materialism 
of this day. And the one refuge is to lay fast hold of 
the old truth :—‘ The only begotten Son which is in the 
bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.’ 
Oh! you orphan children that have forgotten your 
Father, and have turned prodigals and rebels; you 
that have begun to doubt if there is any one above this 
| low earth that cares for you; you that have got bewil- 
_ dered and befogged amidst the manifold denials and 
_ controversies of this day; come back to the one voice 
: that speaks to us in tones of confident certainty as 
_ from personal knowledge of a Father. ‘He that hath 

seen Me hath seen the Father,’ says Jesus to us all: 
_‘*hearken unto Me, and know God, whom to know in 


—— 


120 REVELATION [cH.1. 


Me is eternal life. Listen to Him. Without His 
testimony you will be the sport of fears, and doubts, 
and errors. With it in your hearts you will be at 
rest. Grace and peace come from the faithful Witness. 

II. We have grace and peace from the Conqueror of 
Death. 

The ‘ first begotten from the dead’ does not precisely 
convey the idea of the original, which would be more 
accurately represented by ‘the first born from the 
dead ’—the resurrection being looked upon as a kind of 
birth into a higher order of life. It is, perhaps, scarcely — 
necessary to observe that the accuracy of this designa- 
tion, ‘the first born from the dead,’ as applied to our 
Lord, is not made questionable because of the mere © 
fact that there were others who rose from the dead 
before His resurrection, for all of these died again. 
What a strange feeling that must have been for Lazarus 
and the others, to go twice through the gates of death; 
twice to know the pain and the pang of separation! © 
But these all have been gathered to the dust, and lie 
now waiting ‘the adoption, that is the resurrection of 
the body.’ But this Man, being raised, dieth no more, 
death hath no more dominion over Him. And how is © 
it that grace and peace come to us from the risep 
Witness? Two or three words may be said about that. 

Think how, first of all, the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ is the confirmation of His testimony. In it the 
Father, to whom He hath borne witness in His life and 
death, bears witness to Christ, that His claims were 
true and His work well-pleasing. He is ‘declared to be 
the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.’ If 
our Lord did not rise from the dead, as all Christen- 
dom to-day’ has been declaring its faith that He did, 

1 Kaster Sunday. 





v.4] GIFTS OF THE CROWNED CHRIST 121 


then, as it seems to me, there is an end to His claims 
to be Son of God, and Son of Man, or anything other 
than a man like the rest of us. If He be no more 
and naught else than a man, altogether like the rest of 
us, then there is an end to any special revelation of the 
Divine nature, heart, purposes, and will, in His works 
and character. They may still be beautiful, they may 
still reveal God in the same sense in which the doings 
of any good man suggest a fontal source of goodness 
from which they flow, but beyond that they are 
nothing. So all the truth, and all the peace, all the 
grace and hope which flow to us from the witness of 
Jesus Christ to the Father, are neutralised and 
destroyed unless we believe in the resurrection from 
the dead. His words may still remain gracious, and 
true in a measure, only all dashed with the terrible 
mistake that He asserted that He would rise again, 
and rose not. But as for His life, it ceases to be in any 


_ real sense, because it ceases to be in any unique sense, 























the revelation to the world of the character of God. 
And therefore, as I take it, it is no exaggeration to 


say that the whole fabric of Christianity, and all 
_ Christ's worth as a witness to God, stand or fall with 


the fact of His resurrection. If you pull out that key- 
stone, down comes the arch. There may still be fair 
carving on some of the fallen fragments, but it is no 


_ longer an arch that spans the great gulf, and has a firm 


pier on the other side. Strike away the resurrection 
and you fatally damage the witness of Jesus. You 


_ cannot strike the supernatural out of Christianity, and 
| keep the natural. The two are so inextricably woven 


together that to wrench away the one lacerates the 
other, and makes it bleed, even to death. If Christ be 
not risen we have nothing to preach, and you have 





























122 REVELATION (on. 1 


nothing to believe. Our preaching and your faith « 
alike vain: ye are yet in your sins. Grace and peace 
come from faith in the ‘first begotten from the dead.” 

And that is true in another way too. Faith in the 
resurrection gives us a living Lord to confide in—not a 
dead Lord, whose work we may look back upon with 
thankfulness; but a living one, who works now upon 
us, and by whose true companionship and real affec- 
tion strength and help are granted to us every day 
The cold frost of death has not congealed that stream 
of love that poured from His heart while He lived on 
earth ; it flows yet for each of us, for all of us, for 
whole world. 

My brother, we cannot do without a living Christ to 
stand beside us, to sympathise, to help, to love. We 
cannot do without a living Christ with whom we may 
speak, who will speak to us. And that communion 
which is blessedness, that communication of power and 
righteousness which is life, are only possible, if it be 
true that His death was not the end of His relationship 
to us, or of His work in the world, but was only 
transition from one stage of that work to another. 
We have to look to Christ, the ‘faithful Witness,’ the 
Witness who witnessed when He died; but we have to 
look to Him that is risen again and takes His place « 
the right hand of God. And the grace and peace flow 
to us not only from the contemplation of the past 
witness of the Lord, but are showered upon us from 
the open hands of the risen and living Christ. 

In still another way do grace and peace reach us 
from the ‘first begotten from the dead,’ inasmuch as in 
Him and in His resurrection-life we are armed for 
victory over that foe whom He has conquered. If 
be the first born, He will have ‘many brethren.’ 


_y.4] GIFTS OF THE CROWNED CHRIST 128 


‘first’ implies a second. He has been raised from the 
dead, therefore death is not the destruction of con- 
scious life. He has been raised from the dead, there- 
fore any other man may be. Like another Samson, 
He has come forth from the prison-house, with the 
bars and gates upon His mighty shoulders, and has 

carried them away up there to the hill-top where He 
‘is. And the prison-house door stands gaping wide, 

and none so weak but he can pass out through the 
ever open portals. Christ has risen, and therefore if 
we will trust Him we have conquered that last and 
grimmest foe. And so for ourselves, when we are 
trembling, as we all do with the natural shrinking of 
flesh from the thought of that certain death ; for our- 
selves, in our hours of lonely sorrow, when the tears 
come or the heart is numbed with pain; for ourselves 
when we lay ourselves down in our beds to die, grace 
and peace, like the dove that fell on His sacred head 
as it rose from the water of the baptism—will come 
down from His hands who is not only ‘the faithful 

Witness,’ but the ‘first begotten from the dead.’ 

III. Lastly, we have grace and peace from the King 
of kings. 

The series of aspects of Christ’s work here is ranged 
in order of time, in so far as the second follows the 
first, and the third flows from both, though we are not 
to suppose that our Lord has ceased to be the faithful 
Witness when He has ascended His Sovereign Throne. 
His own saying, ‘I have declared Thy name, and will 
declare it,’ shows us that His witness is perpetual, and 
carried on from His seat at the right hand of God. 

He is the ‘Prince of the kings of the earth, just 
because He is ‘the faithful Witness.’ That is to say: 
—His dominion is the dominion of the truth; His 





























124 REVELATION (CH. 1. 


dominion is a kingdom over men’s wills and spiri 
Does He rule by force? No! Does Heruleby outwe 
means? No! By terror? No! but because, as E 
said to the astonished Pilate, He came ‘ to bear witnes 
to the truth’; therefore is He the King not of the 
Jews only but of the whole world. A kingdom over 
heart and conscience, will and spirit, is the kingdom 
which Christ has founded, and His rule rests upon Hi 
witness. 

And not only so, He is ‘ the Prince of the kings of the 
earth’ because in that witness He dies, and so becomes 
a ‘martyr’ to the truth—the word in the original con- 
veying both ideas. That is to say, His dominion res 
not only upon truth. That would be a dominion grand 
as compared with the kingdom of this world, but sti 
cold. His dominion rests upon love and sacrifice, And 
so His Kingdom is a kingdom of blessing and of gentle- 
ness; and He is crowned with the crowns of the 
universe, because He was first crowned with the crown 
of thorns. His first regal title was written upon His 
Cross, and from the Cross His Royalty ever flows. He 
is the King because He is the sacrifice. 

And He is the Prince of the kings of the ea 
because, witnessing and slain, He has risen again; Hi 
resurrection has been the step midway, as it were, 
between the humiliation of earth and death, and the 
loftiness of the Throne. By it He has climbed to Hi 
place at the right hand of God. Heis King and Prince 
then, by right of truth, love, sacrifice, death, resurre 
tion. 

And King to what end? That He may send grace 
and peace. Is there no peace for a man’s heart i 
feeling that the Brother that loves him and died for 
him rules over all the perplexities of life, the confusions 


- 


v.4] GIFTS OF THE CROWNED CHRIST 125 


of Providence, the sorrows of a world, and the corrup- 
tions of his own nature? Is it not enough to drive 
away fears, to anodyne cares, to disentangle perplexi- 
ties, to quiet disturbances, to make the coward brave, 
and the feeble strong, and the foolish wise, and the 
querulous patient, to think that my Christ is king; 
and that the hands which were nailed to the Cross 
wield the sceptre, and that He who died for me rules 
the universe and rules me? 

Oh, brethren! there is no tranquillity for a man 
anywhere else but in the humble, hearty recognition 
of that Lord as his Lord. Crown Him with your 
reverence, with your loyal obedience, with your con- 
stant desires; crown Him with your love, the most 
precious of all the crowns that He wears, and you will 
find that grace and peace come to you from Him. 

Such, then, is the vision that this seer in Patmos had 
of his Lord. It was to him a momentary opening of 
the heavens, which showed him his throned Lord; but 
the fact which was made visible to his inward eye for 
amomentisaneternalfact. To-day as then, to-morrow 
as to-day, for Asiatic Greeks and for modern English- 
men, for past centuries, for the present, and for all the 
future, for the whole world for ever, Jesus Christ is 
the only witness whose voice breaks the awful silence 
and tells us of a Father; the only Conqueror of Death 
who makes the life beyond a firm, certain fact; the 
King whose dominion it is life to obey. We all need 
Him. Your hearts have wants which only His grace 
can supply, your lives have troubles which only His 
peace can still. Sin and sorrow, change and trial, 
separation and death, are facts in every man’s ex- 
perience. They are ranked against us in serried 
battalions. You can conquer them all if you will seek 


126 REVELATION (ox. 1 


shelter and strength from Him who has died for y 
and lives to succour and to save. Trust Him! Let 
your faith grasp the past fact of the Cross whose 
virtue never grows old, and the present fact of 
Throne from which He bends down with hands full o 
grace; and on His lips the tender old words: ‘ Peace 
leave with you, My peace give I unto you!’ 




















CHRIST'S PRESENT LOVE AND PAST LOOSING 
FROM SINS 


‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.’— 
REv. i. 5. 


THE Revised Version rightly makes two slight but 
important changes in this verse, both of which are 
sustained by preponderating authority. For ‘loved’ it 
reads ‘loveth,’ and for ‘washed’ it reads ‘loosed’; the 
whole standing ‘Unto Him that loveth us, loosed us 
from our sins by His blood.’ Now the first of these 
changes obviously adds much to the force and richness 
of the representation, for it substitutes for a past a 
present and timeless love. The second of them, though 
it seems greater, is really smaller, for it makes no 
change in the meaning, but only in the figure under 
which the meaning is represented. If we read 
‘washed,’ the metaphor would be of sin as a stain; if 
we read ‘loosed,’ the metaphor is of sin as a ‘chain.’ 
Possibly the context may somewhat favour the altera- 
tion, inasmuch as there would then be the striking 
contrast between the condition of captives or bonds- 
men, and the dignity of ‘kings and priests unto God, 
into which Jesus brings those whom He has freed from 
the bondage. Taking, then, these changes, and noting 
the fact that our text is the beginning of a doxology, 


v5) CHRIST’S PRESENT LOVE 127 


_we have here three points, the present love of Christ, 
‘the great past act which is its outcome and proof, and 


2s 


_ the praise which should answer that great love. 


I. We have here that great thought of the present 
love of Christ. 

The words seem to.me to become especially beauti- 
ful, if we remember that they come from the lips of 


him whose distinction it was that he was ‘the disciple 


whom Jesus loved.’ It is as if he had said, ‘I share 


my privilege with you all. Iwas no nearer Him than 


you may be. Every head may rest on the breast 
where mine rested. Having the sweet remembrance 
of that early love, these things write I unto you that 
ye also may have fellowship with me in that which 
was my great distinction. I, the disciple whom Jesus 
loved, speak to you as the disciples whom Jesus loves.’ 

Mark that he is speaking of One who had been dead 
for half a century, and that he is speaking to people, 


none of whom had probably ever seen Jesus in His 


lifetime, and most of whom had not been born when 
He died. Yet to them all he turns with that profound 
and mighty present tense, and says, ‘He loveth us.’ 
He was speaking to all generations, and telling all the 
tribes of men of a love which is in active operation 
towards each of them, not only at the moment when 
John spoke to Asiatic Greeks, but at the moment when 
we Englishmen read his words, ‘Christ that loveth us.’ 

Now that great thought suggests two things, one as to 
the permanence, and one as to the sweep of Christ’s love. 
With regard to the permanence, we have here the reve- 
lation of One whose relation to life and death is alto- 
gether unique. For though we must believe that the 
dead do still cherish the love that lighted earth for 
them, we cannot suppose that their love embraces those 


128 REVELATION 


whom on earth they did not know, or that for 
who are still held in its grasp it can be a potence 
active operation to bless them and to do them good. 
But here is a Man, to the exercise of whose love, to the 
clearness of whose apprehension and knowledge, to the 
outgoing of whose warm affection, the active energy 
of that affection life or death make no difference. The 
cold which stays the flow of all other human love, like 
frost laid upon the running streams which it binds in 
fetters, has no power over the flow of Christ's love, 
which rolls on, unfrozen and unaffected by it. But 
not only does Christ’s present love require that He 
should be lifted above death as it affects the rest of us, 
but it also demands for its explanation that we shall 
see in Him true Divinity. For this ‘loveth’ is the 
timeless present of that Divine nature, of which we 
cannot properly say either that it was or that it will 
be, but only that it for ever is, and the outgoings of 
His love are like the outgoings of that Divine energy 
of which we cannot properly say that it did or that it 
will do, but only that it ever does. His love, if I might 
use such a phrase, is lifted above all tenses, and trans- 
cends even the bounds of grammar. Hedid love. He 
does love. He will love. All three forms of speech 
must be combined in setting forth the ever present, 
because timeless and eternal, love of the Incarnate 
Word. 

Then let me remind you too that this present love of 
Christ is undiminished by the glory to which He is 
exalted. We find clear and great differences between 
the picture of Jesus Christ in the four gospels and the 
picture of Him drawn in that magnificent vision of 
this chapter. But the differences are surface, and the 
identity is deep-lying. The differences affect position 































v. 5] CHRIST'S PRESENT LOVE 129 


much rather than nature, and as we look upon that 
revelation which was given to the seer in his rocky 
Patmos, and with him ‘in the Spirit’ behold ‘the 
things that are,’ we carry into all the glory the thought 
‘He loveth us’; and the breast girded with the golden 
girdle is as loving as that upon which John’s happy 
head lay, and the hand that holds the seven stars is as 
tender as when it was laid on little children in blessing 
or on lepers in cleansing; or as when it held up the 
sinking Apostle, or lifted the sick from their couches, 
or as when it was stretched on the Cross and pierced 
with the nails ; and the face, ‘ which is as the sun shineth 
in his strength, is as gracious as when it beamed in 
pity upon wanderers and sorrowful ones, and drew by 
its beauty and its sweetness the harlots and publicans 
to His pity. The exalted Christ loves as did the lowly 
Christ on earth. 

How different this prosaic, worried present would be 
if we could carry with us, as we may if we will, into 
all its trivialities, into all its monotony, into all its 
commonplace routine, into all its little annoyances 
and great sorrows, that one lambent thought as a 
source of light and strength and blessing, ‘He loveth 
us. Ah! brethren, we lose tremendously of what we 
might all possess, because we think so of ‘He loved,’ 
and travel back to the Cross for its proof, and think so 
comparatively seldom ‘He loveth,’ and feel the touch 
of His hand on our hearts for its token. 

But here we have not only the present and per- 
manent love, but we have the sweep and extent of 
it. ‘He loveth us. And though John was speaking 
primarily about a little handful of people scattered 
through some of the seaboard towns of Asia Minor, 
the principle upon which he could make the assertion 

rf 


130 REVELATION fou. 1 




























in regard to them warrants us in extending the asser- 
tion not only to men that respond to the love, and 
believe in it, but right away over all the generations 
and all the successive files of the great army of 
humanity, down to the very ends of time, ‘He loveth - 
us. 

That universality, wonderful as it is, and requiring — 
for its basis the same belief in Christ’s Divine nature 
which the present energy of His love requires, has to 
be translated by each of us into an individualising love 
which is poured upon each single soul, as if it were the 
sole recipient of the fulness of the heart of Christ. 
When we extend our thoughts or our sympathies toa 
erowd, we lose the individual. We generalise, as logi- 
cians say, by neglecting the particular instances. That 
is to say, when we look at the forest we do not see the 
trees. But Jesus Christ sees each tree, each stem, 
each branch, each leaf, just as when the crowd thronged 
Him and pressed Him, He knew when the tremulous 
finger, wasted and shrunken to skin and bone, was 
timidly laid on the hem of His garment; as there was 
room for all the five thousand on the grass, and 
man’s plenty was secured at the expense of another 
man’s penury, so each of us has a place in that heart; 
and my abundance will not starve you, nor your feed. 
ing full diminish the supplies for me. Christ loves 
not with the vague general philanthropy with which 
men love the mass, but with the individualising know: 
ledge and special direction of affection towards the in- 
dividual which demands for its fulness a Divine nat 
to exercise it. And so each of us may have our o 
rainbow, to each of us the sunbeam may come straig 
from the sun and strike upon our eye ina direct lin 
to each of us the whole warmth of the orb may be 








v. 5] CHRIST'S PRESENT LOVE 131 


veyed, and each of us may say, ‘ He loved me, and gave 
Himself for me.’ Is that your conception of your 
relation to Jesus Christ, and of Christ’s to you? 

II. Notice the great proof and outcome of this 
present love. Because it is timeless love, and has 
nothing to do with the distinction of past, present, and 
future, John lays hold of a past act as the manifesta- 
tion of a present love. If we would understand what 
that love is which is offered to each of us in the 
present, we must understand what is meant and what 
is involved in that past act to which John points: ‘He 
loosed us from our sins by His own blood.’ Christ is 
the Emancipator, and the instrument by which He 
makes us free is ‘His own blood.’ 

Now there underlies that thought the sad metaphor 
that sin is captivity. There may be some kind of 
allusion in the Apostle’s mind to the deliverance from 
Egyptian bondage; and that is made the more prob- 
able if we observe that the next clause, ‘hath made 
us kings and priests unto God,’ points back to the great 
charter of Israel's national existence which was given 
immediately after the Exodus. But, be that as it may, 
the notion of bondage underlies this metaphor of 
loosing a fetter. If we would be honest with ourselves, 
in our account of our own inward experiences, that 
bondage we all know. There is the bondage of sin as 
guilt, the sense of responsibility, the feeling that we 
have to answer for what we have done, and to answer 
—as I believe and as I think men’s consciences for the 
most part force them to believe—not only here but 
hereafter, when we appear before the judgment-seat 
of Christ. Guilt isachain. And there is the bondage 
of habit, which ties and holds us with the cords of our 
sins, so as that, slight as the fetter may seem at first, 




























132 REVELATION (cH. 


it has an awful power of thickening and becoming 
heavier and more pressing, till at last it holds a man 
in a grip that he cannot get away from. I know of 
nothing in human life more mystically awful than the 
possible influence of habit. And you cannot break 
these fetters yourselves, brethren, any more than a 
man in a dungeon, shackled to the wall, ean file through 
his handcuffs and anklets with a pin or a broken pen- 
knife. You can do a great deal, but you cannot deal 
with the past fact of guilt, and you can only very 
partially deal with the present fact of tyranny which 
the evil habit exercises on you. 

‘He loosed us from our sins by His own blood.’ This 
is not the place to enter upon theological speculations, 
but I, for my part, believe that, although I may not get 
to the bottom of the bottomless, nor speak about the 
Divine nature with full knowledge of all that it is, 
Scripture is pledged to the fact that the death of Jesus 
Christ is the Sacrifice for the world’s sin. I admit that 
a full theory is not within reach, but Ido not admit 
that therefore we are to falter in declaring that 
Christ’s death is indispensable in order that a man’s 
sin may be forgiven, and the fetters broken, in so far 
as guilt and condemnation and Divine disapprobation 
are concerned. 

But that is only one side of the truth. The other, 
and in some aspects a far more important one, is that 
that same blood which shed delivers them that trust in 
Jesus Christ from the guilt of their sin, imparted to 
men, delivers them from the power of their sin. ‘The 
blood is the life,’ according to the simple physiology of 
the Old and of the New Testament. When we read in 
Scripture that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from 
all sin, as I believe we are intended to understand that 


v.5] CHRIST’S PRESENT LOVE 133 


word, the impartation of Christ’s life to us purifies our 
nature, and makes us, too, in our degree, and on condi- 
tion of our own activity, and gradually and successively 
free from all evil. So as regards both aspects of the 
thraldom of sin, as guilt and as habit: ‘He has loosed 
us from our sins in His own blood.’ 

That is the great token and manifestation of His 
love. If we do not believe that, how else can we have 
any real conviction and proof of anything worth calling 
love as being in the heart of Jesus Christ to any of us? 
To me it seems that unless a man accepts that great 
thought, ‘He loved me, and gave Himself for me,’ and 
is daily working in my nature to make it and me more 
like Himself, he has no real proof that Jesus Christ cares 
ajotfor him, or knows anythingabout him. But I, for 
my part, venture to say that looking on Christ and His 
past as this text does, we can look up to Christ in the 
present as the seer did, and, behold, enthroned by the 
side of the glory, the Man, the Incarnate Word, who 
loves with timeless love every single soul of man. 

III. So, lastly, let me point you to the praise which 
should answer this present love and emancipation. 

‘Unto Him, says John, ‘be’—or is—‘glory and 
dominion for ever and ever.’ That present love, and 
that great past act which is its vindication and mani- 
festation, are the true glory of God. For His glory 
lies, not in attributes, as we call them, that distinguish 
Him from the limitations of humanity, such as Omni- 
science and Omnipresence and Eternal Being and the 
like; all these are great, but they are not the greatest. 
The divinest thing in God is His love, and the true glory 
is the glory that rays out from Him whom we behold 
‘full of grace and truth,’ full of love, and dying on 
the Cross. When we look at that weak man there 




























134 _ REVELATION (cu.n 


yielding to the last infirmity of humanity, and yet in 
yielding to it manifesting His dominion over it, there — 
we see God as we do not see Him anywhere besides. 
To Him is the glory for His love, and His ‘loosing’ 
manifest the glory, and from His love and His loosing 
accrue to Him glory beyond all other revenue of praise 
which comes to Him from creative and sustaining acts. 

‘Unto Him be dominion,’ for His rule rests on His 
sacrifice and on His love. The crown of thorns pre-— 
pared for the ‘many crowns’ of heaven, the sceptre of 
reed was the prophecy of the sceptre of the universe. 
The Cross was the footstool of His Throne. He is 
King of men because He has loved us perfectly, and 
given everything for us. 

And so, brethren, the question of questions for each © 
of us is, Is Jesus Christ my Emancipator? DoI seein 
Him He that looses me from my sins, and makes me 
free indeed, because the Son has made me free anda 
son? DolIrender to Him the love which such a love 
requires? Do I find in Him my ever-present Lover 
and Friend, and is His love to me as a stimulus for all 
service, an amulet against every temptation, a break- 
water in all storms, a light in every darkness, the 
pledge of a future heaven, and the beginning of a 
heaven even upon earth? I beseech you, recognise 
your fetters, and do not say ‘ we were never in bondage 
to any man.’ Recognise your Liberator, put your trust 
in Him; and then you will be able to join, even here 
on earth, and more perfectly hereafter, in that great 
storm and chorus of praise which is in heaven and on 
the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in 
sea, and all that are in them, saying, ‘ Blessing and 
honour and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth 
on the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever. 


KINGS AND PRIESTS 
*He hath made us kings and priests unto God.’"—Rrv. L & 


THERE is an evident reference in these words to the 
original charter of the Jewish nation, which ran, ‘If 
ye will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, 
then shall ye be to Me a kingdom of priests.’ That 
reference is still more obvious if we follow the reading 
of our text in the Revised Version, which runs, ‘He 
made us to be a kingdom, to be priests.’ Now it is un- 
questionable that, in the original passage, Israel is 
represented as being God’s kingdom, the nation over 
which He reigned as King. But in John’s use of the 
expression there seems to be a slight modification of 
meaning, as is obvious in the parallel passage to this, 
which occurs in a subsequent chapter, where we read 
in addition, ‘They shall reign with Him forever.’ That 
is to say, in our text we should rather translate the 
word ‘kingship’ than ‘kingdom,’ for it means rather 
the Royal dominion of the Christian community than 
its subjection to the reign of God. 

So the two dignities, the chief in the ancient world, 
which asarule were sedulously kept apart, lest their 
union should produce a grinding despotism from which 
there was no appeal, are united in the person of the 
humblest Christian, and that not merely at some 
distant future period beyond the grave, but here and 
now; for my text says, not ‘ will make,’ but ‘hath 
made.’ The coronation and the consecration are both 
past acts, they are the sequel, certain to follow upon 
the previous act: ‘He hath loosed us from our sins in 
His own blood.’ The timeless love of Christ, of which 


that ‘loosing’ was the manifestation and the outcome, 
185 


136 REVELATION (cH. 1. 


is not content with emancipating the slaves; it en-— 
thrones and hallows them. ‘ He lifts the beggar from 
the dunghill to set him among princes. ‘He hath © 
loosed us from our sins, He hath therein made us 
‘kings and priests to God.’ 

I. So, then, we have to consider, first, the Royalty of — 
the Christian life. 

Now as I have already observed, that royalty has two 
aspects, a present and a future, and therein the repre- 
sentation coincides with the whole strain of the New 
Testament, which never separates the present from 
the future condition of Christian people, as if they — 
were altogether unlike, but lays far more emphasis 
upon the point in which they coincide than on the 
points in which they differ, and represents that future 
as being but the completion and the heightening to a 
more lustrous splendour, of that which characterises 
Christian life in the present. So there is a present 
dominion, notwithstanding all the sorrows and limita- 
tions and burdens of life; and there is a future one, 
which is but the expansion and the superlative degree 
of that which is enjoined in the present. What, then, 
is the present royalty of the men that have been loosed 
from their sins? 

Well, I think that the true kingship, which comes as 
the consequence of Christ’s emancipation of us from 
the guilt and power of sin, is dominion over ourselves. 
That is the real royalty, to which every man, whatever 
his position, may aspire, and may exercise. Our very 
nature shows that we are not, if I might so say, a 
republic or a democracy, but a monarchy, for there are 
parts of every one of us that are manifestly intended 
to be subjected and to obey, and there are parts that 
are as manifestly intended to be authoritative and to 





v. 6] KINGS AND PRIESTS 137 


command. On the one side are the passions and the 
desires that inhere in our fleshly natures, and others, 
more refined and sublimated forms of the same, and on 
the other, there is will, reason, conscience. And these, 
being themselves the authoritative and commanding 
parts of our nature, observe a subordination also. For 
the will which impels all the rest is but a blind giant 
unless it be illumined by reason. And will and 
reason alike have to bow to the dictates of that 
conscience which is the vicegerent of God in every 
man. 

But there is rebellion in the monarchy, as we all 
know, a revolt that spreads widely. And there is no 
power that will enable my will to dominate my baser 
part, and no power that willenthrone my reason above 


_my will, and no power that will give to the empty 


voice of conscience force to enforce its decrees, except 
the power of Him that ‘has loosed us from our sins 
in His own blood.’ When we bow to Him, then, and, 
as I believe in its perfect measure, only then, shall we 
realise the dominion over the anarchic, rebellious self, 
which God means every man to exercise. Christ, and 
Christ alone, makes us fit to control all our nature. 
And He does it by pouring into us His own Spirit, 
which will subdue, by strengthening all the motives 
which should lead men to obedience, by setting before 
them the perfect pattern in Himself, and by the com- 
munication of His own life, which is symbolised by 
His blood cleansing us from the tyranny under which 
we have been held. We wereslaves, He makes us free, 
and making us free He enthrones us. He that is king 
over himself is the true king. 

Again, the present royalty of the Christian man is 
found in his sovereignty over the world. He commands 


138 REVELATION (cH. 


the world who despises it. He is lord of material 
things who bends them to the highest use, the develop- 
ment of his own nature, and the formation in him of a 
God-pleasing and Christlike character. He is king of 
the material who uses it as men use the leaping-bars 
and other apparatus in a gymnasium, for the strength- 
ening of the frame, and the bringing out of the muscles. 
He is the king of the world to whom it is all a mirror 
that shows God, a ladder by which we can climb to 
Him. And this domination over things visible and 
material is possible to us in its superlative degree only 
in the measure in which we are united by faith and 
obedience to Him who declared, with almost His dying 
breath, ‘I have overcome the world,’ and bade us 
therefore ‘be of good cheer.’ ‘This is the victory that 
overcometh the world, even our faith,’ and He is the 
master of all who has submitted himself to the 
monarchy of Jesus Christ. And so the royalty which 
begins with ruling my own nature goes on to be master 
of all things around me, according to that great say- 
ing, the depth of which can be realised only by ex- 
perience, ‘ All things are yours, and ye are Christ's.’ 
There is another department in which the same 
kingship is at present capable of being exercised by us 
all, and that is that we may become, by faith in Jesus 
Christ, independent of men, and lords over them, in 
the sense that we shall take no orders from them, nor 
hang upon their approbation or disapprobation, nor 
depend upon their love for our joy, nor be frightened 
or bewildered by their hate, but shall be able to say, 
‘We are the servants of Christ, therefore we are free 
from men.’ The King’s servant is everybody else's 
master. In the measure in which we hold ourselves in 
close union with that Saviour we are set free from all 





| 
| 


. 


v. 6] KINGS AND PRIESTS 139 


selfish dependence on, and regard to, the judgments of 
perishable and fallible creatures like ourselves. 

But the passage to which I have already referred as 
determining the precise meaning of the ambiguous 
expression in my text goes alittlefurther. It not only 
speaks of being kings and priests here and now, but it 
adds they shall ‘reign with Him,’ and so points us 
onward to a dim future, in which all that is tendency 
here, and an imperfect kingship, shall be perfectly 
realised hereafter. I do not dwell upon that, for we 
see that future but ‘through a glass darkly’; only I 
remind you of such sayings as ‘have thou authority 
over ten cities,’ and the other phrase in one of the 
letters to the seven churches, in which ‘authority over 
the nations’ and ‘ruling them with a rod of iron’ is 
promised to Christ’s servants. These are promises as 
dim as they are certain, but they, at least, teach us 
that they who here, in lowly dependence on the King 
of kings, have bowed themselves to Him, and, emanci- 
pated by Him, have been made to share in some measure 
in His royalty here, shall hereafter, according to the 
depth of His own wonderful promise, ‘ sit with Him on 
His Throne, as He also hath sat down with the Father 
on His Throne.’ 

For indeed this kingship of all Christ’s children, like 
the priesthood with which it is associated in my text, 
is but one case of the general principle that, by faith in 
Jesus Christ, we are so united with Him as that where 
He is, and what He is, there and that ‘we shall be 
also.’ He has become like us that we might become like 
Him. He has taken part of the flesh and blood of 
which the children are partakers, that they might take 
part of the Spirit of which He is the Lord. He, the 
Son, has become the Son of Man that sons of men might 


140 REVELATION [cu 1 


in Him become the sons of God. The branches partake - 
of the ‘fatness’ of the vine; and the King who is 
Priest makes all to trust Him, not only sons but kings 
through Himself. 

II. We have here the priesthood of the Christian life. 

Now that idea is but a symbolical way of putting 
some very great and wondrous thoughts, for what are 
the elements that go to make up the idea of a priest. 

First, direct access to God, and that is the prerogative 
of every Christian. All of us, each of us, may pass — 
into the secret place of the Most High, and stand there 
with happy hearts, unabashed and unafraid, beneath 
the very blaze of the light of the Shekinah. And we 
can do that, because Jesus Christ has come to us with 
these words upon His lips, ‘I am the Way; no man 
cometh to the Father but by Me.’ The path into that 
Divine Presence is for every sinful soul blocked by an 
immense black rock, its own transgressions; but He 
has blasted away the rock, and the path is patent for 
all our feet. By His death we have the way made open 
into the holiest of all. And so we can come, come with 
lowly hearts, come with childlike confidence, come with 
the whole burden of our weaknesses and wants and 
woes, and can spread them all before Him, and nestle 
to the great heart of God the Father Himself. Weare 
priests to God, and our prerogative is to pass within 
the veil by the new and living Way which Christ is 
for us. 

Again, another idea in the conception of the priest 
is that he must have somewhat to offer; and we 
Christian people are in that sense priests. Christ has 
offered the ‘one Sacrifice for sins for ever,’ and there 
is no addition to that possible or requisite. But after 
the offering of the expiatory sacrifice, the anciex 





v. 6] KINGS AND PRIESTS 141 


Ritual taught us a deep truth when it appointed that 
following it there should be the sacrifice of thanks- 
giving. And these are what we are to bring. You 
remember the words, ‘I beseech you, brethren, by the 
mercies of God, that ye present ’—and that word is the 
technical one for the offering of sacrifice—‘ your bodies 
a living sacrifice, acceptable unto God.’ You remember 
Peter's use of this same expression, ‘Ye are a royal 
priesthood, and his description of their function to 
offer up spiritual ‘sacrifices. You remember the other 
words of the great sacerdotal book of the New Testa- 
ment, the Epistle to the Hebrews, which claims for 
Christians all that seemed to be disappearing with the 
dying Jewish economy, and says, ‘ By Him, therefore, 
let us offer the sacrifice of praise unto God... that 
is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name, and 
to do good, and to communicate forget not, for with 
such sacrifices God is well-pleased.’ So the sacrifice of 
myself, moved by the mercies of God as a great thank- 
offering, and in detail the sacrifice of praise, of good 
gifts and good deeds, and a life devoted to Him, these 
are the sacrifices which we have to bring. 

I need not remind you of yet another aspect in which 
the sacrificial idea inheres in the very notion of the 
Christian life, and that is not only access to God, and 
the offering of sacrifice, but mediation with man. For 


the function is laid upon all Christian people by Jesus 


Christ Himself, that they should represent God and 
Him in the world, and beseech men, in Christ’s stead, 
to be reconciled to God. And so the priesthood and the 
kingship both belong to the ideal of the Christian life. 
III. In the last place, just a word or two as to the 
practical conclusions from this idea. 
The first of them is one on whieh I touch very lightly, 





142 REVELATION [on n 


but which I cannot well omit, and that is the bearing 
of this thought on the relations of the members of the 
Christian community to one another. The New Testa- 
ment knows of two kinds of priesthood, and no third. 
It knows of Christ as the High Priest who, by His 
great sacrifice for the sins of the world, has made all 
other expiation antiquated and impertinent, and has 
swept away the whole fabric of ceremonial and sacri- 
ficial worship; and it knows of the derived priesthood 
which belongs to every member of Christ’s Church. 
But it stops there; and there is not a word in the New 
Testament which warrants any single member of that 
universal priesthood monopolising the title to himself, 
and so separating himself from the community of his 
brethren. Ido not wish to elaborate that point, or to 
bring any mere controversial elements into my sermon, 
but Iam bound to say that if that name of priest be 
given to a class, you elevate the class and you degrade 
the mass of believers. You take away from the com- 
munity what you concentrate on the individual. And 
historically it has always been the case that wherever 
the name of priest has been allotted to the officials, the 
ministers of the Church, there the priesthood of the 
community has tended to be forgotten. 

I do not dwell upon the other great error which goes 
along with that name as applied to an officer in any 
Christian community. But a priest must have a 
sacrifice, and you cannot sustain the sacerdotal idea 
except by the help of the sacramentarian idea which, 
I venture to say, travesties the simple memorial rite 
of the Lord’s Supper into what it is called in Roman 
Catholic phraseology, ‘the tremendous sacrifice.’ 

Brethren, the hand of the priest paralyses the life 
of the Church; and politically, intellectually, socially, 


v. 6] KINGS AND PRIESTS 143 


and above all religiously, it blights whatsoever it 
touches. You free Churchmen have laid upon you 
this day the imperative duty of witnessing for the two 
things, the sole priesthood of Jesus Christ, and the 
universal priesthood of all His people. 

Let me say again, these thoughts bear upon our in- 
dividual duty. Itis idle, as some of us are too apt to do, 
to use them as a weapon to fight ecclesiastical assump- 
tions with, unless they regulate our own lives. Be 
what you are is what I would say to all Christian men. 
You are a king; see that you rule yourself and the 
world. You are a priest; see that the path into the 
Temple is worn by your continual feet. See that you 
offer yourselves sacrifices to God in the daily work and 
self-surrender of life. See that you mediate between 
God and man, in such brotherly mediation as is possible 
to us. 

Above all, dear friends, let us all begin where Christ 
begins, where my text begins, and go to Him to have 
ourselves ‘loosed from our sins in His own blood.’ 
Then the king’s diadem and the priest’s mitre will meet 
on our happy heads. In plain English, if we want to 
govern ourselves and the world, we must let Christ 
govern us, and then all things will be our servants. 
If we would draw near to God—and to be distant from 
Him is misery; and if we would offer to Him the 
sacrifices—to refrain from offering which is sin and 
sorrow—we must begin with going to Jesus Christ, and 
trusting in Him as our Redeemer from sin. And then, 
so trusting, He will give us here and now, amid the 
sorrows and imperfections of life, and more perfectly 
amid the glories and unknown advances in power and 
beauty in the heavens, a share in His Royalty and His 
unchangeable Priesthood. 


THE KING OF GLORY AND LORD OF THE 
CHURCHES 


‘I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the — 
kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for 
the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10. I was inthe Spiriton 
the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11. Saying, I 
am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write ina 
book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and 
unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto 
Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 12. AndI turned to see the voice that spake 
with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13. And in the 
midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a 
garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14. His 
head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were 
as a flame of fire; 15. And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a 
furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. 16. And He had in His right 
hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and His ~ 
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 17. And when I saw Him, I 
fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear 
not; I am the first and the last: 18 Iam He that liveth, and was dead; and, 
behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. 
19. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the 
things which shall be hereafter; 20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou 
sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are 
the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest 
are the seven churches.’—REv. i. 9-20. 





In this passage we have the seer and his commission 
(vs. 9-11); the vision of the glorified Christ (vs. 12-16); 
His words of comfort, self-revelation, and command > 
(vs. 17-20). 

I. The writer does not call himself an apostle, but a 
brother and sharer in the common good of Christians. 
He does not speak as an apostle, whose function was 
to witness to the past earthly history of the Lord, but 
as a prophet, whose message was as to the future. 

The true rendering of verse 9 (R.V.) brings all 
three words, ‘tribulation, ‘kingdom,’ and ‘patience’ 
into the same relation to ‘in Jesus.’ Sharing in afflie- 
tions which flow from union to Him is the condition 
of partaking in His kingdom; and tribulation leads to 


the throne, when it is borne with the brave patience 
144 


vs. 9-20] THE KING OF GLORY 145 


which not only endures, but, in spite of sorrows, goes 
right onwards, and which is ours if we are in Christ. 

Commentators tell us that John was banished to 
Patmos, an insignificant rock off the Asiatic coast, 
under Domitian, and returned to Ephesus in the reign 
of Nerva (A.D. 96). No wonder that all through the 
book we hear the sound of the sea! It was common 
for the Romans to dispose of criminals in that fashion, 
and, clearly, John was shut up in Patmos as a criminal. 
‘For the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus, 
cannot fairly bear any other meaning than that he 
was sent there as punishment for bearing witness to 
Jesus. Observe the use of ‘witness’ or testimony, as 
connecting the Apocalypse with the Gospel and Epistles 
of John. 

In his rocky solitude the Apostle was ‘in the Spirit,’ 
—by which is, of course, not meant the condition in 
which every Christian should ever be, but such a state 
of elevated consciousness and communion as Paul was 
in when he was caught up to the heavens. No doubt 
John had been meditating on the unforgotten events 
of that long-past day of resurrection, which he was 
observing in his islet by solitary worship, as he had 
often observed it with his brethren in Ephesus; and 
his devout thoughts made him the more capable of 
supernatural communications. Whether the name of 
the first day of the week as ‘the Lord’s Day’ originated 
with this passage, or had already become common, is 
uncertain. But, at all events, it was plainly regarded 
as the day for Christian worship. Solitary souls, far 
away from the gatherings of Christ’s people, may still 
draw near to Him; and if they turn thought and love 
towards Him, they will be lifted above this gross earth, 
and hear that great voice speaking to them, which 

K 




























146 REVELATION [cmt 


rose above the dash of waves, and thrilled the in 
ear of the lonely exile. That voice, penetrating an¢ 
elear like a trumpet, gave him his charge, and woke 
his expectation of visions to follow. 
We cannot enter on any consideration of the churches 
enumerated, or the reasons for their selection. Suffice 
it to note that their number suggests their represen 
tive character, and that what is said to them is meant 
for all churches in all ages. 
II. The fuller consideration of the emblem of the 
candlesticks will come presently, but we have reverently 
to gaze upon the glorious figure which flashed on John’s 
sight as he turned to see who spoke to him there in his” 
loneliness. His first glimpse told him that it was ‘one 
like to the Son of man’; for it can scarcely be supposed 
that the absence of the definite article in the Gree 
obliges us to think that all that John meant to say was: 
that the form was manlike. Surely it was a more 
blessed resemblance than that vague one which struck 
on his heart. It was He Himself ‘ with His human air,” 
standing there in the blaze of celestial light. Whata 
rush of memories, what a rapture of awe and surprise 
would flood his soul, as that truth broke on him! The 
differences between the form seen and that remembered 
were startling, indeed, but likeness persisted through 
them all. Nor is it inexplicable that, when he had 
taken in all the features of the vision, he should have 
fallen as one dead; for the truest love would feel awe 
at the reappearance of the dearest invested with 
heavenly radiance. 
The elements of the description are symbolical, and, 
in most instances, drawn from the Old Testament. 
The long robe, girdled high up with a golden girdle, © 
seems to express at once kingly and priestly dignity. 





vs, 9-20] THE KING OF GLORY 147 


Girded loins meant work. This girdled breast meant 
royal repose and priestly calm. The whiteness of the 
hair (comp. Dan. vii. 9) may indicate, asin Daniel, length 
of days; but more probably it expresses ‘the trans- 
figuration in light of the glorified person of the 
Redeemer’ (Trench). The flaming eyes are the symbol 
of His all-seeing wrath against evil, and the feet of 
burning brass symbolise the exalted Christ’s power to 
tread down His enemies and consume them. His voice 
was as the sound of many waters, like the billows that 
broke on Patmos, whereby is symbolised the majesty 
of His utterance of power, whether for rebuke or 
encouragement, but mainly for the former. 

Flashing in His hand were seven stars. The seer 
does not stop to tell us how they were disposed there, 
nor how one hand could grasp them all; but that right 
hand can and does. What this point of the vision 
means we shall see presently. 

The terrible power of the exalted Christ’s word to 
destroy His foes is expressed by that symbol of the 
two-edged sword from His mouth, which, like so many 
prophetic symbols, is grotesque if pictured, but sublime 
when spoken. The face blazed with dazzling bright- 
ness unbearable as the splendours of that southern sun 
which poured its rays on the flashing waters round 
John’s rocky prison. 

Is this tremendous figure like the Christ on whose 
bosom John had leaned? Yes; for one chief purpose 
of this book is to make us feel that the exalted Jesus 
is the same in all essentials as the lowly Jesus. The 
heart that beats beneath the golden girdle is the same 
that melted with pity and overflowed with love here. 
The hands that bear the seven stars are those that 
were pierced with nails. The eyes that flash fire are 


148 REVELATION (om. 1. 



























those that dropped tears at a grave and over Jerusa 
lem. The lips from which issues the sharp sword 
the same which said, ‘I will give you rest.’ He has 
carried all His love, His gentleness, His sympathy, in 0 
the blaze of Deity, and in His glory is still our brother. 

III. His gracious words to John tell us this and 
more. Soothingly He laid the hand with the stars 
it on the terrified Apostle, and gentle words, which he 
had heard Him say many a time on earth, came sooth 
ingly from the mouth from which the sword prea 
ceeded. How the calming graciousness rises inte 
majesty! ‘I am the first and the last.’ That is 
Divine prerogative (Isa. xliv. 6). The glorified Chri 
claims to have been before all creatures, and to be the 
end to which all tend. 

Verse 18 should be more closely connected with 
the preceding than in Authorised Version. The sen- 
tence runs on unbroken, ‘and the Living one,’ which i 
equivalent to the claim to possess life in Himse 
(John v. 26), on which follows in majestic continuity, 
‘and I became dead ’—pointing to the mystery of th 
Lord of life entering into the conditions of humanity, 
and stooping to taste of death—‘and, behold, I am 
alive for evermore ’—the transient eclipse of the grave 
is followed by glorious life for ever—‘and I have the 
keys of death and of Hades’—having authority over 
that dark prison-house, and opening and shutting its 
gates as I will. 

Mark how, in these solemn words, the threefold state 
of the eternal Word is set forth, in His pre-incarna 
fulness of Divine life, in His submission to death, in E 
resurrection, and in His ascended glory, as Lord of 
life and death, and of all worlds. Does our faith grasp 
all these? We shall never understand His life and 


vs. 9-20] THE KING OF GLORY 142 


death on earth, unless we see before them the eternal 
dwelling of the Word with God, and after them 
the exaltation of His manhood to the throne of the 
universe. 

The charge to the Apostle, which follows on this 
transcendent revelation, hastwo parts—the command 
to write his visions, and the explanation of the symbols 
of the stars and the candlesticks. As to the former, we 
need only note that it extends to the whole book, and 
that the three divisions of ‘what thou seest,’ ‘the 
things which are,’ and ‘the things which shall be here- 
after, may refer, respectively, to the vision in this 
chapter, the letters to the seven churches, and the sub- 
sequent prophetic part of the book. 

As to the explanation of the symbols, stars are always, 
in Scripture, emblems of authority, and here they are 
clearly so. But there is great difference of opinion as to 
the meaning of the ‘angels,’ which are variously taken 
as being guardian angels of each church, or the presid- 
ing officers of these, or ideal figures representing each 
church in its collective aspect. It is impossible to 
enter on the discussion of these views here, and we can 

: only say that, in our judgment, the opinion that the 
angels are the bishops of the churches is the most 
: probable. If so, the fact that they are addressed as 
_Tepresenting the churches, responsible for and sharing 
in their spiritual condition, suggests very solemn 
thoughts as to the weight laid on every one who 
! sustains an analogous position, and the inseparable 
connection between the spiritual condition of pastor 
| and people. 
_ The seven candlesticks are the seven churches. The 
formal unity of the ancient church, represented by the 
one candlestick with its seven branches, is exchanged 


| 
| 






















150 REVELATION [cu 


for the real unity which arises from the presence of 
Christ in the midst. The old candlestick is at the 
bottom of the Mediterranean. The unity of 
Church does not depend on compression into one or- 
ganisation, but on all its parts being clustered around 
Jesus. 

The emblem of the candlestick, or lamp-holder, ma 
suggest lessons as to the Church’s function. Each 
church should be light. That light must be derived. 
There is only one unkindled and unfed light—that of 
Jesus Christ. Of the rest of us it has to be said, ‘He 
was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of 
that Light.’ Each church should be, as it were, ¢ 
clustered light, like those rings of iron, pierced with 
many little holes, from each of which a tiny jet of gas 
comes, which, running all together, make one steady 
lustre. So we should each be content to blend our 
little twinkle in the common light. 


THE THREEFOLD COMMON HERITAGE 


*I John, your brother, and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdc 
and patience which are in Jesus.’—REv. i. 9 (R.V.). 


So does the Apostle introduce himself to his readers; 
with no word of pre-eminence or of apostolic author- 
ity, but with the simple claim to share with them i 
their Christian heritage. And this is the same man 
who, at an earlier stage of his Christian life, desi 
that he and his brother might ‘sit on Thy right hand 
and on Thy left in Thy Kingdom.’ What a change ha¢ 

passed over him! What was it that out of such timber 
made such a polished shaft? I think there is only one 
answer—the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the gif 
of God’s good Spirit that came after it. 


v.9] THREEFOLD COMMON HERITAGE 151 


It almost looks as if John was thinking about his 
old ambitious wish, and our Lord’s answer to it, when 
he wrote these words; for the very gist of our Lord’s 
teaching to him on that memorable occasion is repro- 
duced in compressed form in my text. He had been 
taught that fellowship in Christ’s sufferings must go 
before participation in His throne; and so here he puts 
tribulation before the kingdom. He had been taught, 
in answer to his foolish request, that pre-eminence was 
not the first thing to think of, but service; and that 
the only principle according to which rank was deter- 
mined in that kingdom was service. So here he says 
nothing about dignity, but calls himself simply a 
brother and companion. He humbly suppresses his 
apostolic authority, and takes his place, not by the 
side of the throne, apart from others, but down among 
them. 

Now the Revised Version is distinctly an improved 
version in its rendering of these words. It reads 
‘partaker with you,’ instead of ‘companion,’ and so 
emphasises the notion of participation. It reads, ‘in 
the tribulation and kingdom and patience,’ instead of 

‘in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience’; and 
s0, as it were, brackets all the three nouns together 
under one preposition and one definite article, and 
thus shows more closely their connection. And instead 
of ‘in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,’ it 
_ reads, ‘which are in Jesus Christ,’ and so shows that 
the predicate, ‘in Jesus Christ,’ extends to all the 
_three—the ‘tribulation, the ‘kingdom, and _ the 
‘patience, and not only to the last of the three, as 
would be suggested to an ordinary reader of our 
) English version. So that we have here a participation 
| by all Christian men in three things, all of which are, 
j 
} 


¥ 
\ 


152 REVELATION 























as it were, on the one side by participation ‘in the 
tribulation, and on the other side by participation ‘in 
the patience. We may, then, best bring out the con 
nection and force of these thoughts by looking at the 
common royalty, the common road leading to it, a 
the common temper in which the road is trodden—all 
which things do inhere in Christ, and may be ours on 
condition of our union with Him. 

I. So then, first, note the common royalty. ‘I John 
am a partaker with you in the kingdom.’ 

Now John does not say, ‘I am going to be a partaker, 
but says, ‘Here and now, in this little rocky island of 
Patmos, an exile and all but a martyr, I yet, like « 
the rest of you, who have the same weird to dree, an¢ 
- the same bitter cup to drink, even now ama partaker 
of the kingdom that is in Christ.’ 

What is that kingdom? It is the sphere or society 
the state or realm, in which His will is obeyed; and, 
as we may say, His writs run. His kingdom, i 
the deepest sense of the word, is only there, whe! 
loving hearts yield, and where His will is obeyec 
consciously, because the conscious obedience is rooted 
in love. 

But then, besides that, there is a wider sense of 
expression in which Christ’s kingdom stretches ¢ 
through the universe, and wherever the authority ¢ 
God is there is the kingdom of the exalted Christ, wh 
is the right hand and active power of God. 

So then the ‘kingdom that is in Christ’ is yours i 
you are ‘in Christ.’ Or, to put it into other w 
whoever is ruled by Christ has a share in rule wif 
Christ. Hence the words in the context here, to which 





v.9}] THREEFOLD COMMON HERITAGE 1538 


a double meaning may be attached, ‘He hath made us 
to be a kingdom.’ We are His kingdom in so far as 
our wills joyfully and lovingly submit to His author- 
ity; and then, in so far as we are His kingdom, we 
are kings. So far as our wills bow to and own His 
sway, they are invested with power to govern our- 
selves and others. His subjects are the world’s 
masters. Even now, in the midst of confusions and 
rebellions, and apparent contradictions, the true rule 
in the world belongs to the men and women who bow 
to the authority of Jesus Christ. Whoever worships 
Him, saying, ‘Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ,’ 
receives from Him the blessed assurance, ‘and I appoint 
unto you a kingdom. His vassals are altogether 

princes. He is ‘King of kings,’ not only in the sense 
that He is higher than the kings of the earth, but also 
in the sense, though it be no part of the true meaning 
of the expression, that those whom He rules are, by 
the very submission to His rule, elevated to royal 
dignity. 

We rule over ourselves, which is the best kingdcm 
to govern, on condition of saying:—‘Lord! I cannot 
rule myself, do Thou rule me.’ When we put the reins 
into His hands, when we put our consciences into His 
keeping, when we take our law from His gentle and 
yet sovereign lips, when we let Him direct our think- 
ing; when His word is absolute truth that ends all 
controversy, and when His will is the supreme author- 
ity that puts an end to every hesitation and reluctance, 
then we are masters of ourselves. The man that has 
rule over his own spirit is the true king. He that thus 
is Christ’s man is his own master. Being lords of our- 
selves, and having our foot upon our passions, and 
conscience and will flexible in His hand and yielding to 


154 REVELATION (cH 


His lightest touch, as a fine-mouthed horse does to the 


least pressure of the bit, then we are masters of cir- 
cumstances and the world; and all things are on our 


side if we are on Christ’s side. 
So we do not need to wait for Heaven to be heirs, 


that is possessors, of the kingdom that God hath pre- 


pared for them that love Him. Christ’s dominion is 
shared even now and here by all who serve Him. It is 


often hard for us to believe this about ourselves or — 


others, especially when toil weighs upon us, and adverse 
circumstances, against which we have vainly striven, 
tyrannise over our lives. We feel more like powerless 
victims than lords of the world. Our lives seem con- 


cerned with such petty trivialities, and so absolutely — 
lorded over by externals, that to talk of a present 


dominion over a present world seems irony, flatly con- 
tradicted by facts. Weare tempted to throw forward 
the realisation of our regality to the future. We are 


heirs, indeed, of a great kingdom, but for the present — 


are set to keep a small huckster’s shop in a back street. 
So we faithlessly say to ourselves; and we need to 


open our eyes, as John would have his brethren do, to © 


the fact of the present participation of every Christian 


in the present kingdom of the enthroned Christ. 


There can be no more startling anomalies in our lots 
than were in his, as he sat there in Patmos, a solitary 
exile, weighed upon with many cares, ringed about 
with perils not afew. But in them all he knew his 
share in the kingdom to be real and inalienable, and 
yielding much for present fruition, however much more 


remained over for hope and future possession. The 


kingdom is not only ‘of’ but ‘in’ Jesus Christ. He is, 


as it were, the sphere in which it is realised. If we are — 


‘in Him’ by that faith which engrafts us into Him, we 





v.9] THREEFOLD COMMON HERITAGE 155 


shall ourselves both be and possess that kingdom, and 
possess it, because we are it. 

But while the kingdom is present, its perfect form is 
future. The crown of righteousness is laid up for 
God’s people, even though they are already a kingdom, 
and already (according to the true reading of Rev. v. 
10) ‘reign upon the earth.’ Great hopes, the greater 
for their dimness, gather round that future when the 
faithfulness of the steward shall be exchanged for the 
authority of the ruler, and the toil of the servant for 
the joy of the Lord. The presumptuous ambition of 
John in his early request did not sin by setting his 
hopes too high; for, much as he asked when he sought 
a place at the right hand of his Master’s throne, his 
wildest dreams fell far below the reality, reserved for 
all who overcome, of a share in that very throne itself. 
There is room there, not for one or two of the aris- 
tocracy of heaven, but for all the true servants of 
Christ. 

They used to say that in the days of the first 
Napoleon every French soldier carried a field-marshal’s 
baton in his knapsack. That is to say, every one of 
them had the chance of winning it, and many of them 
did win it. Butevery Christian soldier carries a crown 
in his, and that not because he perhaps may, but 
because he certainly will, wear it, when the war is 
over, if he stands by his flag, and because he has it 
already in actual possession, though for the present 
the helmet becomes his brow rather than the diadem. 
On such themes we can say little, only let us remember 
that the present and the future life of the Christian 
are distinguished, not by the one possessing the royalty 
which the other wants, but as the partial and perfect 
forms of the same kingdom, which, in both forms 


156 REVELATION | [ou 


alike, depends on our true abiding in Him. That 
kingdom is in Him, and is the common heritage of all — 
who are in Him, and who, on earth and in heaven, 
possess it in degrees varying accurately with the 
measure in which they are in Christ, and Hein them, — 
II. Note, secondly, the common road to that common 
royalty. g 
As I have remarked, the kingdom is the central 
thought here, and the other two stand on either side as — 
subsidiary: on the one hand, a common ‘tribulation’; 
on the other, a common ‘patience.’ The former is the - 
path by which all have to travel who attain the 
royalty ; the latter is the common temper in which all — 
the travellers must face the steepnesses and rough- 
nesses of the road. 
‘Tribulation’ has, no doubt, primarily reference to 
actual persecution, such as had sent John to his exile 
in Patmos, and hung like a threatening thunder-cloud ~ 
over the Asiatic churches. But the significance of the 
word is not exhausted thereby. It is always true that 
‘through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.’ 
All who are bound to the same place, and who start 
from the same place, must go by the same road. There 
are no short-cuts nor by-paths for the Christian 
pilgrim. The only way to the kingdom that is in — 
Christ is the road which He Himself trod. There is © 
‘tribulation in Christ,’ as surely as in Him there are j 
peace and victory, and if we are in Christ we shall be > 
sure to get ourshare of it. The Christian course brings 
new difficulties and trials of its own, and throws those 
who truly out-and-out adopt it into relations with the © 
world which will surely lead to oppositions and pains. — 
If we are in the world as Christ was, we shall have to 
make up our minds to share ‘the reproach of Christ’ 
















+3] THREEFOLD COMMON HERITAGE 157 


until Egypt owns Him, and not Pharaoh, for its King. 
If there be no such experience, it is much more probable 
that the reason for exemption is the Christian’s world- 
liness than the world’s growing Christlikeness. 

No doubt the grosser forms of persecution are at an 
end, and no doubt multitudes of nominal Christians 
live on most amicable terms with the world, and know 
next to nothing of the tribulation that is in Christ. 
But that is not because there is any real alteration in 
the consequences of union with Jesus, but because 
their union is so very slight and superficial. The world 
‘loves its own, and what can it find to hate in the 
shoals of people, whose religion is confined to their 
tongues mostly, and has next to nothing to do with 
their lives? It has not ceased to be a hard thing to be 
a real and thorough Christian. A great deal in the 
world is against us when we try to be so, and a great 
deal in ourselves is against us. There will be ‘ tribula- 
tion’ by reason of self-denial, and the mortification 
and rigid suppression or regulation of habits, tastes, 
and passions, which some people may be able to 
indulge, but which we must cast out, though dear and 
sensitive as a right eye, if they interfere with our 
entrance into life. The law is unrepealed—‘ If we suffer 
with Him, we shall also reign with Him.’ 

But this participation in the tribulation that is in 
Christ has another and gentler aspect. The expression 
points to the blessed softening of our hardest trials 
when they are borne in union with the Man of Sorrows. 
The sunniest lives have their dark times. Sooner or 
_ later we all have to lay our account with hours when 
the heart bleeds and hope dies, and we shall not find 
strength to bear such times aright unless we bear 
them in union with Jesus Christ, by which our darkest 


158 REVELATION (cu. 1. 






























sorrows are turned into the tribulation that is in 
and all the bitterness, or, at least, the poison of the 
bitterness, taken out of them, and they almost changed 
into a solemn joy. Egypt would be as barren as the 
desert which bounds it, were-it not for the rising of 
the Nile; so when the cold waters of sorrow rise up 
and spread over our hearts, if we are Christians, they 
will leave a precious deposit when they retire, on which 
will grow rich harvests. Some edible plants are not 
fit for use till they have had a touch of frost. Christian 
character wants the same treatment. It is needful for 
us that the road to the kingdom should often run 
through the valley of weeping. Our being in the 
kingdom depends upon the bending of our wills in 
submission to the King; then surely nothing should be 
more welcome to us, as nothing can be more needful, 
than anything which bends them, even if the fire which 
makes their obstinacy pliable, and softens the iron so 
that it runs in the appointed mould, should have to be 
very hot. The soil of the vineyards on the slopes of 
Vesuvius is disintegrated lava. The richest grapes, 
from which a precious wine is made, grow on the 
product of eruptions which tore the mountain-side and 
darkened all the sky. So our costliest graces of char- 
acter are grown in a heart enriched by losses and 
made fertile by convulsions which rent it and covered 
smiling verdure with what seemed at first a fiery flood 
of ruin. The kingdom is reached by the road of tribu- 
lation. Blessed are they for whom the universal 
sorrows which flesh is heir to become helps heaven- 
wards because they are borne in union with Jesus, a 
so hallowed into ‘ tribulation that is in Him,’ 

III. We note the common temper in which 
common road to the common royalty is to be trodden. 


v.9] THREEFOLD COMMON HERITAGE 159 


‘Tribulation’ refers to cireumstances—‘ patience’ to 
disposition. We shall certainly meet with tribulation 
if we are Christians, and if we are, we shall front tribu- 
lation with patience. Both are equally, though in 
different ways, characteristics of all the true travellers 
to the kingdom. Patience is the link, so to speak, 
between the kingdom and the tribulation. Sorrow 
does not of itself lead to the possession of the kingdom. 
All depends on the disposition which the sorrow 
evokes, and the way in which it is borne. We may 
take our sorrows in such a fashion as to be driven by 
them out of our submission to Christ, and so they may 
lead us away from and not towards the kingdom. The 
worst affliction is an affliction wasted, and every afflic- 
tion is wasted, unless it is met with patience, and that 
in Christ Jesus. Many a man is soured, or paralysed, 
or driven from his faith, or drowned in self-absorbed 
and self-compassionating regret, or otherwise harmed 
by his sorrows, and the only way to get the real good 
of them is to keep closely united to our Lord, that in 
Him we may have patience as well as peace. 

Most of us know that the word here translated 
‘patience’ means a great deal more than the passive 
endurance which we usually mean by that word, and 
distinctly includes the notion of active perseverance. 
That active element is necessarily implied, for instance, 
in the exhortation, ‘Let us run with patience the race 
that is set before us. Mere uncomplaining passive 
endurance is not the temper which leads to running 
any race. It simply bears and does nothing, but the 
persistent effort of the runner with tense muscles calls 
_ for more than patience. A vivid metaphor underlies 
the word—that of the fixed attitude of one bearing up 
a heavy weight or pressure without yielding or being 


160 REVELATION [om 


























crushed. Such immovable constancy is more than 
passive. There must be much active exercise of power 
to prevent collapse. But all the strength is not to be 
exhausted in the effort to bear without flinching. 
There should be enough remaining for work that 
remains over and above the sorrow. The true Chris-— 
tian patience implies continuance in well-doing, besides 
meek acceptance of tribulation. The first element in 
it is, no doubt, unmurmuring acquiescence in what- 
soever affliction from God or man beats against us on 
our path. But the second is, continual effort after 
Christian progress, notwithstanding the tribulation. 
The storm must not blow us out of our course. We — 
must still ‘bear up and steer right onward, in spite of 
all its force on our faces, or, as ‘ birds of tempest-loving 
kind’ do, so spread our pinions as to be helped by it 
towards our goal. 

Do I address any one who has to stagger along the 
Christian course under some heavy and, perhaps, hope-— 
less load of sorrow? There is a plain lesson for all of 
us in such circumstances. It is not less my duty to 
seek to grow in grace and Christlikeness because I am 
sad. That is my first business at all times and under 
all changes of fortune and mood. My sorrows are 
meant to help me to that, and if they so absorb me 
that I am indifferent to the obligation of Christian 
progress, then my patience, however stoical and un- 
complaining it may be, is not the ‘ perseverance that is 
in Christ Jesus. Nor does tribulation absolve from 
plain duties. Poor Mary of Bethany sat still in the 
house, with her hands lying idly in her lap, and her 
regrets busy with the most unprofitable of all occupa- 
tions—fancying how different all would have been if 
one thing had been different. Sorrow is excessive and 


pet 


v.9] THREEFOLD COMMON HERITAGE 161 


misdirected and selfish, and therefore hurtful, when 

_ for the sake of indulgence in it we fling up plain tasks. 
The glory of the kingdom shining athwart the gloom 
of the tribulation should help us to be patient, and the 
patience, laying hold of the tribulation by the right 
handle, should convert it into a blessing and an instru- 
ment for helping us to a fuller possession of the 
kingdom. 

This temper of brave and active persistence in the 
teeth of difficulties will only be found where these other 
two are found—in Christ. The stem from which the 
three-leaved plant grows must be rooted in Him. He 
is the King, and in Him abiding we have our share of 
the common royalty. He is the forerunner and path- 
finder, and, abiding in Him, we tread the common path 
to the common kingdom, which is hallowed at every 
rough place by the print of His bleeding feet. He is 
the leader and perfecter of faith, and, abiding in Him, 
we receive some breath of the spirit which was in Him, 
who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured 
the Cross, despising the shame. Abiding in Him, we 

shall possess in our measure all which is in Him, and 

_ find ourselves partakers with an innumerable company 
‘in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which 
are in Christ Jesus, and may hope to hear at last, ‘Ye 
are they which have continued with Me in My tempta- 
tions, and I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as My Father 
hath appointed unto Me.’ 


THE LIVING ONE WHO BECAME DEAD 


‘Iam He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, 
Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. '"—Rev. iL. 18. 


Ir we had been in ‘the isle which is called Patmos’ 
when John saw the glorified Lord, and heard these 
majestic words from His mouth, we should probably 
have seen nothing but the sunlight glinting on the 
water, and heard only the wave breaking on the shore. 
The Apostle tells us that he ‘was in the Spirit’; that is, 
in a state in which sense is lulled to sleep, and the 
inner man made aware of supersensual realities. The 
communication was none the less real because it was 
not perceived by the outward eye or ear. It was not 
born in, though it was perceived by, the Apostle’s spirit. 
We must hold fast by the objective reality of the com- 
munication, which is not in the slightest degree affected 
by the assumption that sense had no part in it. 

Further what John once saw always is; the vision 
was a transient revelation of a permanent reality. 
The snowy summits are there, behind the cloud-wrack 
that hides them, as truly as they were when the sun- 
shine gleamed on their peaks. The veil has fallen 
again, but all behind it is as it was. So this revelation, 
both in regard of the magnificent symbolic image im- 
printed on the Apostle’s consciousness, and in regard 
of the words which he reports to us as impressed upon 
him by Christ Himself, is meant for us just as it was 
for him, or for those to whom it was originally 
transmitted. ‘He that hath an ear, let him hear 
what the Spirit saith to the churches. And as we 
meditate upon this proclamation by the kingly Christ 
Himself of His own style and titles, I think we shall 


162 















v. 18] THE LIVING ONE 163 


best gain its full sublimity and force if we simply take 
the words, clause by clause, as they stand in the text. 

I. First, then, the royal Christ proclaims His absolute 
life. 

Observe that, as the Revised Version will show those 
who use it, there is a much closer connection between 
the words of our text and those of the preceding verse 
than our Authorised Version gives. We must strike 
out that intrusive and wholly needless supplement, ‘I 
am,’ and read the sentence unbrokenly: ‘I am the first, 
and the last and the living One.’ 

Now that close connection of clauses in itself sug- 
gests that this expression, ‘the Living One,’ means 
something more than the mere declaration that He was 
alive. That follows appropriately, as we shall see, in 
the last clause of the verse, which cannot be cleared 
from the charge of tautology, unless we attach a far 
deeper meaning than the mere declaration of life to 
this first solemn clause. What can stand worthily by 
the side of these majestic words, ‘I am the first and 
the last’? These claim a Divine attribute and are a 
direct quotation from ancient prophecy, where they 
are spoken as by the great Jehovah of the old covenant, 
and appear in a connection which makes any tamper- 
ing with them the more impossible. For there follow 
upon them the great words, ‘and beside Me there is no 
God.’ But this royal Christ from the heavens puts out 
an unpresumptuous hand, and draws to Himeelf, as 
properly belonging to Him, the very style and signature 
of the Divine nature, ‘I am the first’—before all 
creatural being, ‘and the last,’ as He to whom it all 
tends—its goal and aim. And therefore I say that this 
connection of clauses, apart altogether from other con- 
sideration, absolutely forbids our taking this great 


164 REVELATION (cH. I. 


word, ‘the Living One,’ as meaning less than the similar 
lofty and profound signification. It means, as I 
believe, exactly what Jesus Christ meant when, in the 
hearing of this same Apostle, He said upon earth, ‘As 
the Father hath life in Himself so hath He given’— 
strange paradox—‘so hath He given to the Son to have 
life in Himself.’ A life which, considered in contrast 
with all the life of creatures, is underived, independent, 
self-feeding, and, considered in contrast with the life 
of the Father with whom that Son stands in ineffable 
and unbroken union, is bestowed. It is a paradox, I 
know, but until we assume that we have sounded all 
the depths and climbed all the heights, and gone round 
the boundless boundaries of the circumference of that — 
Divine nature, we have no business to say that it is 
impossible. And this, as I take it, is what the great 
words that echoed from Heaven in the Apostle’s hear- 
ing upon Patmos meant—the claim by the glorified 
Christ to possess absolute fontal life, and to be the 
Source of all creation, ‘in whom was life. He was not 
only ‘the Living One,’ but, as Himself has said, He was 
‘the Life.” And so He was the agent of all creation, 
as Scripture teaches us. 

Now Iam not going to dwell upon this great thought, © 
but I simply wish, in one sentence, to leave with you 
my own earnest conviction that it is the teaching of © 
all Scripture, that it is distinctly the teaching of Christ 
Himself when on earth; that it is repeated in a real 
revelation from Himself to the recipient seer in this 
vision before us, that it is fundamental to all true 
understanding of Christ’s person and work, since none 
of His acts on earth shine in their full lustre of beauty 
unless the thought of His pre-incarnate and essential 
life is held fast to heighten all the marvels of His 





v.18] THE LIVING ONE 165 


condescension, and to invest with power all the sweet- 
ness of His pity. ‘Iam the first, and the last, and the 
Living One.’ 

II. Secondly, the royal Christ proclaims His sub- 
mission to death. 

The language of the original is, perhaps, scarcely 
capable of smooth transference into English, but it is 
to be held fast notwithstanding, for what is said is not 
‘I was dead,’ as describing a past condition, but ‘I 
became dead, as describing a past act. There is all the 
difference between these two, and avoidance of awk- 
wardness is dearly purchased by obliteration of the 
solemn teaching of that profound word ‘ became.’ 

I need not dwell upon this at any length, but I 
suggest to you one or two plain considerations. Such 
a statement implies our Lord’s assumption of flesh. 
The only possibility of death, for ‘the Living One, lies 
in His enwrapping Himself with that which can die. 
As you might put a piece of asbestos into a twist of 
cotton wool, over which the flame could have power, 
or as a sun might plunge into thick envelopes of dark- 
ness, so this eternal, absolute Life gathered to itself by 
voluntary accretion the surrounding which was capable 
of mortality. Itis very significant that the same word 
which the seer in Patmos employs to describe the 
Lord’s submission to death is the word which, in his 
character of evangelist, he employs to describe the 
same Lord’s incarnation: ‘The Word became fiesh,’ 
and so the Life ‘became dead.’ And this expression 
implies, too, another thing, on which I need not dwell, 
because I was touching on it in a previous sermon, and 
that is the entirely voluntary character of our Lord’s 
submission to the great law of mortality. He ‘be- 
came’ dead, and it was His act that He became so. 


166 REVELATION [cnn 


Thus we are brought into the presence of the most 
stupendous fact in the world’s history. Brethren, as I 
said that the firm grasp of the other truth of Christ's 
absolute life was fundamental to all understanding of 
His earthly career, so I say that this fundamental 
truth of His voluntarily becoming dead is fundamental 
to all understanding of His Cross. Without that 
thought His death becomes mere surplusage, in so far 
as His power over men is concerned. With it, what 
adoration can be too lowly, what gratitude can be 
disproportionate? He arrays Himself in that which 
can die, as if the sun plunged into the shadow of 
eclipse. Let us bow before that mystery of Divine 
love, the death of the Lord of Life. The motive which 
impelled Him, the consequences which followed, are 
not in view here. These are full of blessedness and of 
wonder, but we are now to concentrate our thoughts 
on the bare fact, and to find in it food for endless 
adoration and for perpetual praise. 

But there is another consideration that I may sug- 
gest. The eternal Life became dead. Then the awful 
solitude—awful when we think of it for ourselves, 
awful when we stand by the bed, and feel so near, and 
yet so infinitely remote from the dear one that may be 
lying there—the awful solitude is solitary no longer. 
‘All alone, so Heaven has willed, we die’; but as 
travellers are cheered on a solitary road when they 
see the footprints that they know belonged to loved 
and trusted ones who have trodden it before, that 
desolate loneliness is less lonely when we think that 
He became dead. He will come to the shrinking, single 
soul as He joined Himself to the sad travellers on the 
road to Emmaus, and ‘our hearts’ may burn within 
us, even in that last hour of their beating, if we can 





v. 18] THE LIVING ONE 167 


remember who has become dead and trodden the road 
before us. 

Ill. The royal Christ proclaims His eternal life in 
glory. 

‘Behold !’—as if calling attention to a wonder—‘I 
am alive for evermore. Again, I say, we have herea 
distinctly Divine prerogative claimed by the exalted 
Christ, as properly belonging to Himself. For that 
eternal life of which He speaks is by no means the 
communicated immortality which He imparts to them 
that in His love go down to death, but it is the inherent 
eternal life of the Divine nature. 

But, mark, who is the ‘I’ that speaks? The seer has 
told us: ‘One like unto the Son of Man’—which title, 
whether it repeats the name which our Lord habitually 
used, or whether, as some persons suppose, it should 
be read ‘a Son of Man,’ and merely declares that the 
vision of the glorified One was manlike, is equally 
relevant for my present purpose. For that is to ask 
you to mark that the ‘I’ of my text is the Divine- 
human Jesus. The manhood is so intertwined with 
the Deity that the absolute life of the latter has, as it 
were, flowed over and glorified the former; and it isa 
Man who lays His hand upon the Divine prerogative, 
and says, ‘I live for evermore.’ 

Now why do I dwell upon thoughts like this? Not 
for the purpose merely of putting accurately what I 
believe to be the truth, but for the sake of opening out 
to you and to myself the infinite treasures of consola- 
tion and strength which lie in that thought that He 
who ‘is alive for evermore’ is not merely Divine in His 
absolute life, but, as Son of Man, lives for ever. And 
80, ‘because I live, ye shall live also. We cannot die 
as long as Christ isalive. And if we knit our hearts to 


168 REVELATION ‘(om 1. 


Him, the Divine glory which flows over His Manhood 
will trickle down to ours, and we, too, though by 
derivation, shall possess as immortal—and, in its 
measure, as glorious—a life as that of the Brother 
who reigns in Heaven, the Man Christ Jesus. 

His resurrection is not only the demonstration of 
what manhood is capable of, and so, as I believe, the 
one irrefragable and all-satisfying proof of immortality, 
but it is also the actual source of that immortal life 
to all of us, if we will trust ourselves to Him. For it 
is only because ‘He both died and rose and revived 
that He, in the truest and properest sense, becomes 
the gift of life to us men. The alabaster box w 
broken, and the house was filled with the odour of the 
ointment. Christ’s death is the world’s life. Christ's 
resurrection is the pledge and the source of eternal 
life for us. 

IV. And so, lastly, the royal Christ proclaims E 
authority over the dim regions of the dead. 

Much to be regretted are two things in 
Authorised Version’s rendering of the final words of 
our text. One is the order in which, following ar 
inferior reading, it has placed the two things specified. 
And the other is that deplorable mistranslation, as it 
has come to be, of the word hades by the word ‘hell.’ 
The true original does not read ‘hell and death,’ but 
‘death and hades,’ the dim unseen regions in which all 
the dead, whatsoever their condition may be, are 
gathered. The hades of the New Testament includes 
the paradise into which the penitent thief was promise¢ 
entrance, as well as the gehenna which threatened te 
open for the impenitent. 

Here it is figured as being a great gloomy fortress, 
with bars and gates and locks, of which that ‘ shadow 


























v. 18] THE LIVING ONE 169 


feared of man’ is the warder, and keeps the portals. 
But he does not keep the keys. The kingly Christ has 
these in His own hand. So, brethren, He has authority 
to open and to shut; and death is not merely a terror 
nor is it altogether accounted for, when we say either 
that it is the fruit of sin, or that it is the result of 
physicallaws. For behind the laws is the will—the will 
of the loving Christ. Itis His hand that opens the dark 
door, and they who listen aright may hear Him say, 
when He does it, ‘Come! My people; enter thou into thy 
chamber until these calamities be overpast.’ ‘He 
openeth, and no man shutteth; He shutteth, andnoman 
openeth.’ So is not the terror gone; and ‘the raven 
plumes of that darkness smoothed until it smiles’? 

If we believe that He has the keys, how shall we 
dread when ourselves or our dear ones have to enter 
into the portal? There are two gates to the prison- 
house, and when the one that looks earthwards opens, 
the other, that gives on the heavens, opens too, and 
the prison becomes a thoroughfare, and the light shines 
through the short tunnel even to the hither side. 

Because He has the keys, He will not leave His holy 
ones in the fetters. And for ourselves, and for our 
dearest, we have the right to think that the darkness 
is so short as to be but like an imperceptible wink of 
the eye; and ere we know that we have passed into it, 
we shall have passed out. 

‘ This is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous 
shall enter.’ And it may be with us as it was with the 
Apostle who was awakened out of his sleep by the 
angel—only we shall be awakened out of ours by the 
angel’s Master—and who did not come to himself, and 
know that he had been delivered, until he had passed 
through the iron gate ‘that opened to him of its own 


170 REVELATION (oH. 11. 


accord’; and then, bewildered, he recovered himself 


when he found that, with the morning breaking over 


his head, he stood, delivered, in the city. 


THE SEVEN STARS AND THE SEVEN 
CANDLESTICKS 


- He that holdeth the seven stars in His a hand, who walketh in the 
wink ‘of the seven golden candlesticks.’—Rerv. iL 


It is one of the obligations which we owe to hostile 


criticism that we have been forced to recognise with ~ 


great clearness the wide difference between the repre- 
sentation of Christ in John’s Gospel and that in the 
Apocalypse. That there is such a contrast is unques- 
tionable. The Prince of all the kings of the earth, 
going forth conquering and to conquer, strikes one at 
once as being unlike the Christ whom the Evangelist 
painted weeping at the grave of Lazarus. We can 
afford to recognise the fact, though we demur to the 
inference that both representations cannot have pro- 
ceeded from one pen. Surely that is not a necessary 
conclusion unless the two pictures are contradictory. 
Does the variety amount to discordance? Unless it 
do, the variety casts no shadow of suspicion on the 
common authorship. I, for my part, see no inconsist- 
ency in them, and thankfully accept both as complet- 
ing each other. 

This grand vision, which forms the introduction to 
the whole Book of the Apocalypse, gives us indeed 
the Lord Jesus clothed with majesty and wielding 
supreme power, but it also shows us the old love and 
tenderness. It was the old voice whieh fell on John’s 
ear, in words heard from Him before, ‘Fear not.’ It 





v. 1] THE SEVEN STARS 171 


was the same hand as he had often clasped that was 
lovingly laid upon him to strengthen him. The assur- 
ance which He gives His Apostle declares at once the 
change in the circumstances of His Being, and in the 
functions which He discharges, and the substantial 
identity of His Being through all the changes: ‘I am 
the first, and the last. ... Iam the Living One, who was 
dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.’ This vision 
and the whole book calls to us, ‘ Behold the Lion of the 
Tribe of Judah’; and when we look, ‘Lo, in the midst 
of the throne, stands a Lamb as it had been slain ’—the 
well-known meek and patient Jesus, the suffering 
Redeemer—‘the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sins of the world.’ 

Still further, this vision is the natural introduction 
to all that follows, and indeed defines the main purpose 
of the whole book, inasmuch as it shows us Christ 
sustaining, directing, dwelling, in His Churches. We 
are thus led to expect that the remainder of the 
prophecy shall have the Church of Christ for its chief 
subject, and that the politics of the world, and the 
mutations of nations, shall come into view mainly in 
their bearing upon that. 

The words of our text, then, which resumes the prin- 
cipal emblem of the preceding vision, are meant to set 
forth permanent truths in regard to Christ’s Churches, 
His relation to them, and theirs to the world, which I 
desire to bring to your thoughts now. They speak to 
us of the Churches and their servants, of the Churches 
and their work, of the Churches and their Lord. 

I. We have in the symbol important truths concern- 
ing the Churches and their servants. 

The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches. 
Now I need not spend time in enumerating all the 


172 REVELATION (on. 


strange and mystical interpretations which have been 
given to these angels of the Churches. I see no need 
for taking them to have been anything but men; the 
recognised heads and representatives of the respective 
communities. The word ‘angel’ means messenger. 
Those superhuman beings who are usually designated 
by it are so called, not to describe their nature, but 
their function. They are ‘God’s messengers, and their 
name means only that. Then the word is certainly 
used, both in its Hebrew and Greek forms, in reference 
to men. It is applied to priests, and even in one 
passage, as it would appear, to an officer of the 
synagogue. If here we find that each Church had its 
angel, who had a letter addressed to him, who is 
spoken to in words of rebuke and exhortation, who 
could sin and repent, who could be persecuted and die, 
who could fall into heresies and be perfected by suffer- 
ing, it seems to me a violent and unnecessary hypo- 
thesis that a superhuman being is in question. And 
the name by which he is called need not imply more 
than his function,—that of being the messenger and 
representative of the Church. 

Believing this as the more probable meaning of the 
phrase, I see in the relations between these men and 
the little communities to which they belonged an 
example of what should be found existing between all 
congregations of faithful men and the officers whom 
they have chosen, be the form of their polity what it 
may. There are certain broad principles which must 
underlie all Christian organisations, and are incom- 
parably more important than the details of Church — 
government. 

Note then, first, that the messengers arerulers. They 
are described in a double manner—by a name which 





v. 1] THE SEVEN STARS 173 


expresses subordination, and by a figure which ex- 
presses authority. I need not do more than remind 
you that throughout Scripture, from the time when 
Balaam beheld from afar the star that should come 
out of Jacob and the sceptre that should rise out of 
Israel, that has been the symbol for rulers. It is so 
notably in this Book of Revelation. Whatever other 
ideas, then, are connected with its use here, this lead- 
ing one of authority must not be lost sight of. 

But this double representation of these persons as 
being in one aspect servants and in another rulers, 
perfectly embodies the very essential characteristic 
of all office and power in Christ’s Church. It is a 
repetition in pictorial form of the great principle, so 
sadly forgotten, which He gave when He said, ‘He 
that is greatest among you, let him be your servant.’ 
The higher are exalted that they may serve the lower. 
Dignity and authority mean liberty for more and more 
self-forgetting work. Power binds its possessor to toil. 
Wisdom is stored in one, that from him it may flow to 
the foolish; strength is given that by its holder feeble 
hands may be stayed. Noblesse oblige. The King Him- 
self has obeyed the law. ‘Jesus, knowing the Father 
had given all things into His hands, took a towel, and 
girded Himself.’ We are redeemed because He came 
to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. 
_He is among us ‘as He that serveth. God Himself 
has obeyed the law. Heis above all that He may bless 
all. He, the highest, stoops the most deeply. His 
dominion is built on love, and stands in giving. And 
that law which makes the throne of God the refuge 
of all the weak, and the treasury of all the poor, is 
given for our guidance in our humble measure. Where- 
soever Christian men think more of themselves and of © 


174 REVELATION (om. 11 


their dignity than of their brethren and their work; 
wheresoever gifts are hoarded selfishly or selfishly 
squandered; wheresoever the accidents of authority, 
its baubles and signature, its worldly consequences, 
and its pride of place, bulk larger in its possessors’ 
eyes than its solemn obligations;—there the law is 
broken, and the heathen devilish notion of rule lays 
waste the Church of God. 

The true idea is not certain to be held, nor its tempt- 
ing counterfeit to be avoided, by any specific form of 
organisation. Wherever there are offices, there will be 
danger of officialism. Where there are none, that will 
not drive out selfishness. Quakerism and Episcopacy, 
with every form of Church government that lies 
between, are in danger from the same source—our 
forgetfulness that in Christ’s kingdom to rule is to 
serve. All Churches have shown that their messengers 
could become ‘lords over God's heritage.’ The true 
spirit of Christ’s servants is not secured by any theory 
about the appointment or the duties of the servants, 


but only by fellowship and sympathy with the Master 


who helps us all, and cares nothing for any glory 
which He cannot share with His disciples. 

But to be servant of all does not mean to do the 
bidding of all. The service which imitates Christ is 
helpfulness, not subjection. Neither the Church is to 
lord it over the messenger, nor the messenger over the 
Church. The true bond is broken by official claims of 
dominion ; it is broken just as much by popular claims 
to control. All alike are to stand free from all men— 


in independence of will, thought, and action; shaping ~ 


their lives and mouiding their beliefs, according to 


Christ's will and Christ's word; and repelling all 
coercion, from whatsoever quarter it comes. All alike 


< 





1 


v.1] THE SEVEN STARS 175 


are by love to serve one another; counting every pos 
session, material, intellectual, and spiritual, as given 
for the general good. The one guiding principle is, 
‘He that is chiefest among you, let him be your 
servant, and the other, which guards this from mis- 
construction and abuse from either side, ‘ One is your 
Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.’ 

Another point to be observed in this symbol is, that 
the messengers and the churches have at bottom the 
same work to do. 

Stars shine,so do lamps. Light comes from both, in 
different fashion indeed, and of a different quality, but 
still both are lights. These are in the Saviour’s hands, 
those are by His side; but each is meant to stream out 
rays of brightness over a dark night. So, essentially, 
all Christian men have the same work to do. The 
ways of doing it differ, but the thing done is one. 
Whatever be the difference between those who hold 
offices in God’s Church and the bulk of their brethren, 
there is no difference here. The loftiest gifts, the 
most conspicuous position, the closest approach to the 
central sun, have no other purpose than that which 
the lowliest powers, in the obscurest corner, are meant 
to subserve. The one distributing Spirit divides to 
each man severally as He will; and whether He 
endows him with starlike gifts, which soar above and 
blaze over half the world with lustre that lives through 
the centuries, or whether He sets him in some cottage 
window to send outa tiny cone of light, that pierces a 
little way into the night for an hour or two, and then 
is quenched—it is all one. The manifestation of the 
Spirit is given to every man for the same purpose—to 
do good with. And we have all one office and function 
to be discharged by each in his own fashion—namely, 


+ 


176 REVELATION (cH. m. 


to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 
in the face of Christ Jesus. 

Again, observe, the Churches and their messengers are 
alike in their religious condition and character. The 
successive letters treat his strength or weakness, his 
fervour or coldness, his sin or victory over evil, as 
being theirs. He represents them completely. And 
that representative character seems to me to be the 
only reason worth considering for supposing that these 
angels are superhuman beings, inasmuch as it seems 
that the identification is almost too entire to be applic- 
able to the relation of any man to the community. 
But, perhaps, if we think of the facts which every 
day’s experience shows us, we may see even in this 
solemn paralleling of the spiritual state of the Churches 
and of their servants, a strong reason for holding to 
our interpretation, as well as a very serious piece of 
warning and exhortation for us all. 

For is it not true that the religious condition of a 
Church, and that of its leaders, teachers, pastors, ever 
tend to the same, as that of the level of water in two 
connected vessels? There is such a constant inter- 
action and reciprocal influence that uniformity results. 
Hither a living teacher will, by God's grace, quicken a 
languid Church, or a languid Church will, with the 
devil's help, stifle the life of the teacher. Take two balls 
of iron, one red hot, and one cold, and put them down 
beside each other. How many degrees of difference 
between them, after half an hour, will your thermo- 
meter show? Thank God for the many instances in 
which one glowing soul, all aflame with love of God, 
has sufficed to kindle a whole heap of dead matter, and 
send it leaping skyward in ruddy brightness! Alas! 
for the many instances in which the wet, green wood 








By. 1] THE SEVEN STARS 177 


has been too strong for the little spark, and has 
not only obstinately resisted, but has ignominiously 
quenched its ineffectual fire! Thank God, that when 
His Church lives on a high level of devotion, it has 
never wanted for single souls who have towered even 
above that height, and have been elevated by it, as the 
snowy Alps spring not from the flats of Holland, but 
from the high central plateau of Hurope. Alas! for 
the leaders who have rayed out formalism, and have 
chilled down the Church to their own coldness, and 
stiffened to their own deadness ! 

Let us, then, not bandy reproaches from pulpit to 
pew, and from pew to pulpit; but remembering that 
the spiritual character of each helps to determine the 
condition of the whole, and the general condition of 
the body determines the vigour of each part, let us go 
together to God with acknowledgments of common 
faithlessness, and of our individual share in it, and let 
us ask Him to quicken His Church, that it may yield 
messengers who in their turn shall be the helpers of 
His people and the glory of God. 

II. The text brings before us the Churches and their 
work. 

Of course, you understand that what the Apostle 
saw was not seven candlesticks, which are a modern 
piece of furniture, but seven lamps. There isa distinct 
reference in this, as in all the symbols of the Apoca- 
_lypse, to the Old Testament. We know that in the 
Jewish Temple there stood, as an emblem of Israel’s 
work in the world, the great seven-branched candle- 
stick, burning for ever before the veil and beyond the 
altar. The difference between the two symbols is 
as obvious as their resemblance. The ancient lamp 
had all the seven bowls springing from a single stem. 

M 


178 REVELATION (cH. 1. 


It was a formal unity. The New Testament seer saw 
not one lamp with seven arms rising from one pillar, — 


but seven distinct lamps—the emblems of a unity 
which was not formal, but real. They were one in 
their perfect manifoldness, because of Him who walked 
in the midst. In which difference lies a representation 
of one great element in the superiority of the Church 
over Israel, that for the hard material oneness of the 
separated nation there has come the true spiritual 
oneness of the Churches of the saints; one not because 


of any external connection, but by reason that Christ — 


is inthem. Theseven-branched lamp lies at the bottom 


of the Tiber. There let it lie. We have a betterthing, — 


in these manifold lights, which stand before the Throne 


of the New Temple, and blend into one, because lighted — 
from one Source, fed by one Spirit, tended and watched ~ 


by one Lord. 


But looking a little more closely at this symbol, it — 


suggests to us some needful thoughts as to the position 
and work of the Church, which is set forth as being 
light, derived light, clustered light. 

The Churchistobelight. That familiar image, which 
applies, as we have seen, to stars and lamps alike, 
lends itself naturally to point many an important 
lesson as to what we have to do, and how we ought to 
do it. Think, for instance, how spontaneously light 


streams forth. ‘Light is light, which circulates.’ The © 


substance which is lit eannot but shine; and if we 
have any real possession of the truth, we cannot but 


impart it; and if we have any real illumination from — 


the Lord, who is the light, we cannot but give it forth. 
There is much good done in the world by direct, 
conscious effort. There is perhaps more done by 
spontaneous, unconscious shining, by the involuntary 


v. 1] THE SEVEN STARS 179 


influence of character, than by the lip or the pen. We 
need not balance the one form of usefulness against 
the other. We need both. But, Christian men and 
women, do you remember that from you a holy im- 
pression revealing Jesus ought to flow as constantly, 
as spontaneously, as light from the sun! Our lives 
should be like the costly box of fragrant ointment 
which that penitent, loving woman lavished on her 
Lord, the sweet, penetrating, subtle odour of which 
stole through all the air till the house was filled. So 
His name, the revelation of His love, the resemblance 
to His character, should breathe forth from our whole 
being; and whether we think of it or no, we should be 
unto God a sweet savour of Christ. 

Then think again how silent and gentle, though so 
mighty, is the action of the light. Morning by morning 
God’s great mercy of sunrise steals upon a darkened 
world in still, slow, self-impartation; and the light 
which has a force that has carried it across gulfs of 
space that the imagination staggers in trying to con- 
ceive, yet falls so gently that it does not move the 
petals of the sleeping flowers, nor hurt the lids of an 
infant's eyes, nor displace a grain of dust. Its work is 
mighty, and done without ‘speech or language.’ Its 
force is gigantic, but, like its Author, its gentleness 
makes its dependents great. So should we live and 
work, clothing all our power in tenderness, doing our 
work in quietness, disturbing nothing but the dark- 
ness, and with silent increase of beneficent power filling 
and flooding the dark earth with healing beams. 

Then think again that heaven’s light is itself invisible, 
and, revealing all things, reveals notitself. The source 
you can see, but not the beams. So we are to shine, 
not showing ourselves but our Master—not coveting 


z . VP 








180 REVELATION (cH. 11. 


fame or conspicuousness—glad if, like one to whom He 
bore testimony that he was a light, it be said of us to 
all that ask who we are, ‘He was not that Light, but 
was sent to bear witness of that Light,’ and rejoicing 
without stint or reservation that for us, as for John 
the Baptist, the necessity is, that we must decrease and 
Christ must increase. 

We may gather from this emblem in the text the 
further lesson that the Church’s light is derived light. 
Two things are needed for the burning of a lamp: that 
it should be lit, and that it should be fed. In both 
respects the light with which we shine is derived. We 
are not suns, we are moons; reflected, not self-origin- 
ated, is all our radiance. That is true in all senses of 
the figure: it is truest in the highest. It is true about 
all in every man which is of the nature of light. Christ 
is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world. Whatsoever beam of wisdom, whatso- 
ever ray of purity, whatsoever sunshine of gladness 
has ever been in any human spirit, from Him it came, 
who is the Light and Life of men: from Him it came, 
who brings to us in form fitted for our eyes, that 
otherwise inaccessible light of God in which alone we 
see light. And as for the more special work of the 
Church (which chiefly concerns us now), the testimony 
of Christ to John, which I have just quoted in another 
connection, gives us the principle which is true about 
all. ‘He was not that light,’ the Evangelist said of 
John, denying that in him was original and native 
radiance. ‘He was a lamp burning ’—where the idea 
is possibly rather ‘lighted’ or made to burn—and 
therefore shining, and in whose light men could rejoice 
for a little while. A derived and transient light is all 
that any man can be. In ourselves we are darkness, 


v. 1) THE SEVEN STARS 181 


and only as we hold fellowship with Him do we 
become capable of giving forth any rays of light. The 
condition of all our brightness is that Christ shall give 
us light. He is the source, we are but reservoirs. He 
the fountain, we only cisterns. He must walk amidst 
the candlesticks, or they will never shine. He must 
hold the stars in His hand, or they will drop from their 
places and dwindle into darkness. Therefore our 
power for service lies in reception; and if we are to 
live for Christ, we must live in Christ. 

But there is still another requisite for the shining of 
the light. The prophet Zechariah once saw in vision 
the great Temple lamp, and by its side two olive trees 
from which golden oil flowed through golden pipes to 
the central light. And when he expressed his ignor- 
ance of the meaning of the vision, this was the inter- 
pretation by the angel who talked with him: ‘Not by 
might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord 
of Hosts.’ The lamp that burns must be kept fed with 
oil. Throughout the Old Testament the soft, gracious 
influences of God’s Spirit are symbolised by oil, with 
which therefore prophets, priests, and kings were 
designated to their office. Hence the Messiah in pro- 
phecy says, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 
He hath anointed me. Thus the lamp too must be 
fed, the soul which is to give forth the light of Christ 
must first of all have been kindled by Him, and then 
must constantly be supplied with the grace and gift of 
_ His Divine Spirit. Solemn lessons, my friends, gather 
round that thought. What became of those who had 
lamps without oil? Their lamps had gone out, and 
their end was darkness. Oh! let us beware lest by 
any sloth and sin we choke the golden pipes, through 
which there steals into our tiny lamps the soft flow of 
































182 REVELATION [cn. m. 


that Divine oil which alone can keep up the flame. 
The wick, untrimmed and unfed, may burn for a little 
while, but it soon chars, and smokes, and goes out at 
last in foul savour offensive to God and man. Take 
care lest you resist the Holy Spirit of God. Let your 
loins be girt and your lamps burning; and that they 
may be, give heed that the light caught from Jesus be 
fed by the pure oil which alone can save it from ex- 
tinction. 

Again, the text sets before us the Church’s light as 
blended or clustered light. 

Each of these little communities is represented by 
one lamp. And that one light is composed of the 
united brightness of all the individuals who constitute 
the community. They are to have a character, an 
influence, a work as a society, not merely as indi- 
viduals. There is to be co-operation in service, there is 
to be mingling of powers, there is to be subordination 
of individuals to the whole, and each separate man and 
his work is to be gladly merged in the radiance that 
issues from the community. A Church is not to be 
merely a multitude of separate points of brilliancy, 
but the separate points are to coalesce into one great 
orbed brightness. You know these lights which we 
have seen in public places, where you havea ring pierced 
with a hundred tiny holes, from each of which bursts a 
separate flame; but when all are lit, they run into one 
brilliant circle, and lose their separateness in the 
rounded completeness of the blended blaze. That is 
like what Christ’s Church ought to be. We each by 
our own personal contact with Him, by our individual 
communion with our Saviour, become light in the 
Lord, and yet we joyfully blend with our brethren, 
and, fused into one, give forth our mingled light. We 


v. 1} THE SEVEN STARS 1838 


unite our voices to theirs, knowing that all are needed 
to send out the Church’s choral witness and to hymn 
the Church’s full-toned praise. The lips of the multi- 
tude thunder out harmony, before which the melody of 
the richest and sweetest single voice is thin and poor. 

Union of heart, union of effort is commended to us 
by this symbol of our text. The great law is, work 
together if you would work with strength. Toseparate 
ourselves from our brethren is to lose power. Why, 
half-dead brands heaped close will kindle one another, 
and flame will sparkle beneath the film of white ashes 
on their edges. Fling them apart and they go out. 
Rake them together and they glow. Let us try not to 
be little feeble tapers, stuck in separate sockets, and 
each twinkling struggling rays over some inch or so of 
space; but draw near to our brethren, and be workers 
together with them, that there may rise a glorious 
flame from our summed and collective brightness 
which shall be a guide and hospitable call to many a 
wandering and weary spirit. 

III. Finally, the text shows us the Churches and their 
Lord. 

He it is who holds the stars in His right hand, and 
walks among the candlesticks. That strong grasp of 
that mighty hand—for the word in the original conveys 
more than ‘holds,’ it implies a tight and powerful grip 
—sustains and guards His servants, whose tasks need 
special grace, and whose position exposes them to 
special dangers. They may be of good cheer, for none 

‘shall pluck them out of His hand. That strengthening 

and watchful presence moves among His Churches, 

and is active on their behalf. The symbols are but the 

‘pictorial equivalent of His own parting promise, ‘Lo, I 
am with you always!’ 




























184 REVELATION (om. 0 


That presence is a plain literal fact, however feebly 
we lay hold of it. It is not to be watered down into a 
strong expression for the abiding influence of Christ's 
teaching or example, nor even to mean the constant 
benefits which flow to us from His work, nor the pre- 
sence of His loving thoughts with us. All these things 
are true and blessed, but none of them, nor all of them 
taken together, reach to the height of this great pro- 
mise. He is absent in body, He is present in person. 
Talk of a ‘real presence’! This is the real presence: 
‘I will not leave you orphans, I will come unto you.” 
Through all the ages, in every land wheresoever two 
or three are gathered in His name, there is He in the 
midst of them. The presence of Christ with His 
Church is analogous to the Divine presence in the 
material universe. As in it, the presence of God is the 
condition of all life; and if He were not here, there 
were no beings and no ‘here’: so in the Church, Christ's 
presence constitutes and sustains it, and without Him 
it would cease. So St. Augustine says, ‘Where Christ, 
there the Church.’ 

I know what wild absurdities these statemen 
appear to many men who have no faith in the tru 
Divinity of our Lord. Of course the belief of 
perpetual presence with His people implies the belie 
that He possesses Divine attributes. This mysterio 
Person, who lived among men the exemplar of 
humility, departing, leaves a promise which is eith 
the very acme of insane arrogance, or comes from th 
consciousness of indwelling Divinity. He declares 
that, from generation to generation, He will in ve 
deed be with all who in every place call upon 
name. Who does He thereby claim to be? 

For what purpose is He there with His Churches 


v. 1] THE SEVEN STARS 185 


The text assures us that it is to hold up and to bless. 
His unwearied hand sustains, His unceasing activity 
moves among them. But beyond these purposes, or 
rather included in them, the vision of which the text 
is the interpretation brings into great prominence the 
thought that He is with us to observe, to judge, and, if 
need be, to punish. Mark how almost all the attributes 
of that majestic figure suggest such thoughts. The 
eyes like a flame of fire, the feet glowing as if in a 
furnace, hot to burn, heavy to tread down all evil 
where He walks, from the lips a two-edged sword to 
smite, and, thank God, to heal, the countenance as the 
sun shineth in his strength—this is the Lord of the 
Churches. Yes, and this is the same loving and for- 
bearing Lord whom the Apostle had learned to trust 
on earth, and found again revealed from heaven. 
Brethren! He dwells with us; He guards and pro- 
tects His Churches to the end, else they perish. He 
rules all the commotions of earth, all the errors of His 
people, all the delusions of lies, and overrules them all 
for the strengthening and purifying of His Church. 
But He dwells with us likewise as the watchful 
observer, out of these eyes of flame, of all our faults; as 
the merciful destroyer, with the sword of His mouth, 
of every error and every sin. Thank God for the 
chastising presence of Christ. He loves us too well 
not to smite us when we need it. He will not be so 
cruelly kind, so foolishly fond, as in anywise to suffer 
sin upon us. Better the eye of fire than the averted 
face. Better the sharp sword than His holding His 
_ peace as He did with Caiaphas and Herod. Better the 
Judge in our midst, though we should have to fall at 
His feet as dead, than that He should say, ‘I will go 
and return to My place.’ Pray Him not to depart, and 


186 REVELATION (ca. 1. 


submit to the merciful rebukes and effectual chastise- 
ment which prove that, for all our unworthiness, He 
loves us still, and has not cast us away from His 
presence. 

Nor let us forget how much of hope and encourage- 
ment lies in the examples, which these seven Churches 
afford, of His long-suffering patience. That presence 
was granted to them all, the best and the worst—the 
decaying love of Ephesus, the licentious heresies of 
Pergamos and Thyatira, the all but total deadness of 
Sardis, and the self-satisfied indifference of Laodicea, 
concerning which even He could say nothing that was — 
good. All had Him with them as really as the faithful 
Smyrna and the steadfast Philadelphia. We have no 
right to say with how much of theoretical error and 
practical sin the lingering presence of that patient pity- 
ing Lord may consist. For others our duty is the widest — 
charity —for ourselves the most careful watchful- 
ness. 

For these seven Churches teach us another lesson— 
the possibility of quenched lamps and ruined shrines. 
Ephesus and her sister communities, planted by Paul, 
taught by John, loved and upheld by the Lord, warned 
and scourged by Him—where are they now? Broken 
columns and roofless walls remain; and where Christ's 
name was praised, now the minaret rises by the side of 
the mosque, and daily echoes the Christless proclama- 
tion, ‘There is no God but God, and Mahomet is His 
prophet.’ ‘The grace of God,’ says Luther somewhere, 
‘is like a flying summer shower. It has fallen upon 
more than one land, and passed on. Judea had it, and 
lies barren and dry. These Asiatic coasts had it and 
flung it away. Let us receive it, and hold it fast, lest 
our greater light should bring greater condemnation, 





v1] IL—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-FOOD 187 


and here, too, the candlestick should be removed out 
of its place. 

Remember that solemn, strange legend which tells us 
that, on the night before Jerusalem fell, the guard of 
the Temple heard through the darkness a voice mighty 
and sad, saying, ‘ Let us depart,’ and were aware as of 

the sound of many wings passing from out of the Holy 
Place; and on the morrow the iron heels of the Roman 
legionaries trod the marble pavement of the innermost 
shrine, and heathen eyes gazed upon the empty place 
where the glory of the God of Israel should have dwelt, 
and a torch, flung by an unknown hand, burned with 
fire the holy and beautiful house where He had 
promised to put His name forever. And let us learn 
the lesson, and hold fast by that Lord whose blood has 
purchased, and whose presence preserves through all 
the unworthiness and the lapses of men, that Church 
against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. 


IL—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-FOOD 


- To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in 
Ee midst of the paradise of God.’—REv. ii. 7. 
THE sevenfold promises which conclude the seven 
letters to the Asiatic Churches, of which this is the 
first, are in substance one. We may, indeed, say that 
the inmost meaning of them all is the gift of Christ 
Himself. But the diamond flashes variously coloured 
lights according to the angle at which it is held, and 
breaks into red and green and white. The one great 
thought may be looked at from different points of 
view, and sparkle into diversely splendid rays. The 
reality is single and simple, but so great that our best 


188 REVELATION (or. 1. 


way of approximating to the apprehension of that 
which we shall never comprehend till we possess it is — 
to blend various conceptions and metaphors drawn — 
from different sources. 

I have a strong conviction that the Christianity of 
this day suffers, intellectually and practically, from its 
comparative neglect of the teaching of the New Testa- 
ment as to the future life. We hear and think a great 
deal less about it than was once the case, and we are 
thereby deprived of a strong motive for action, and a 
sure comfort in sorrow. Some of us may, perhaps, be 
disposed to look with a little sense of lofty pity at 
the simple people who let the hope of heaven spur, or 
restrain, or console. But if there is a future life at all, 
and if the characteristic of it which most concerns us is 
that it is the reaping, in consequences, of the acts of 
the present, surely it cannot be such superior wisdom, 
as it sometimes pretends to be, to ignore it altogether; 
and perhaps the simplicity of the said people is more 
in accordance with the highest reason than is our 
attitude. 

Be that as it may, believing, as I do, that the hope of 
immortality is meant to fill a very large place in the 
Christian life, and fearing, as I do, that it actually does © 
fill but a very small one with many of us, I have thought 
that it might do us all good to turn to this wealth of 
linked promises and to consider them in succession, so 
as to bring our hearts for a little while into contact © 
with the motive for brave fighting which does occupy © 
so large a space in the New Testament, however it may — 
fail to do so in our lives. 

I. I ask you to look first at the Gift. 

Now, of course, I need scarcely remind you that this 
first promise, in the last book of Scripture, goes back 





v.7] I—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-FOOD _ 189 


to the beginning, to the old story in Genesis about 
Paradise and the Tree of Life. We may distinguish 
between the substance of the promise and the highly 
metaphorical form into which it is here cast. The 
substance of the promise is the communication of life ; 
the form is a poetic and imaginative and pregnant 
allusion to the story on the earliest pages of Revela- 
tion. 

Let me deal first with the substance. Now it seems 
to me that if we are to pare down this word ‘life’ to 
its merely physical sense of continuous existence, this 
is not a promise that a man’s heart leaps up at the 
hearing of. To anybody that will honestly think, and 
try to realise, in the imperfect fashion in which alone 
it is possible for us to realise it, that notion of an 
absolutely interminable continuance of being, its 
awfulness is far more than its blessedness, and it 
overwhelms a man. It seems to me that the ‘crown 
of life, if life only means conscious existence, would 
be a crown of thorns indeed. 

No, brethren, what our hearts crave, and what 
Christ's heart gives, is not the mere bare, bald, con- 
tinuance of conscious being. It issomething far deeper 
than that. That is the substratum, of course; but it 
is only the substratum, and not until we let in upon 
this word, which is one of the key-words of Scripture, 
the full flood of light that comes to it from John’s 
Gospel, and its use on the Master’s lips there, do we begin 
to understand the meaning of this great promise. 
Just as we say of men who are sunk in gross animal- 
ism, or whose lives are devoted to trivial and transient 
aims, that theirs is not worth calling life, so we say 
that the only thing that deserves, and that in Scripture 
gets, the august name of ‘life,’ is a condition of exist- 


i 
190 REVELATION (cH. rr. 


ence in conscious union with, and possession of, God, — 
who is manifested and communicated to mortals 
through Jesus Christ His Son. ‘In Him was life, and 
the life was manifested.’ Was that bare existence? 
And the life was not only manifested but communi- 
cated, and the essence of it is fellowship with God 
through Jesus Christ. The possession of ‘the Spirit 
of life which was in Christ,’ and which in heaven will 
be perfectly communicated, will make men ‘free,’ as 
they never can be upon earth whilst implicated in 
the bodily life of this material world, ‘from the law of 
sin and death.’ The gift that Christ bestows on him 
that ‘overcometh’ is not only conscious existence, but — 
existence derived from, and, so to speak, embraided 
with the life of God Himself, and therefore blessed. 

For such a life, in union with God in Christ, is the 
only condition in which all a man’s capacities find — 
their fitting objects, and all his activity finds its 
appropriate sphere, and in which, therefore, to live 
is to be blessed, because the heart is united with the 
source and fountain of all blessedness. Here is the 
deepest depth of that promise of future blessedness. — 
It is not mainly because of any changes, glorious as 
these must necessarily be, which follow upon the 
dropping away of flesh, and the transportation into 
the light that is above, that heaven is a place of 
blessedness, but it is because the saints that are there 
are joined to God, and into their recipient hearts 
there pours for ever the fulness of the Divine life. 
That makes the glory and the blessedness. 

But let us remember that all which can come here- 
after of that full and perfect life is but the con- 
tinuance, the development, the increase, of that — 
which already is possessed. Here it fuIs in drops; 





\ 


v.7] I.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-FOOD 191 


there in floods. Here it is filtered; there poured. 
Here, the plant, taken from its native climate and soil, 
puts forth some pale blossoms, and grows but toa 
stunted height; there, set-in their deep native soil, 
and shone upon by a more fervent sun, and watered 
by more abundant warm rains and dews, ‘they that’ 
on earth ‘were planted in the house of the Lord shall, 
transplanted, ‘flourish in the courts of our God.’ The 
life of the Christian soul on earth and of the Christian 
soul in heaven is continuous, and though there is a 
break to our consciousness looking from this side—the 
break of death—the reality is that without interrup- 
tion, and without a turn, the road runs on in the same 
direction. We begin to live the life of heaven here, 
and they who can say, ‘I was dead in trespasses and 
sins, but the life which I live in the flesh I live by 
the faith of the Son of God,’ have already the germs of 
the furthest development in the heavens in their 
hearts. 

Notice, for a moment, the form that this great 
promise assumes here. That is a very pregnant and 
significant reference to the Tree of Life in the paradise 
of God. The old story tells how the cherub with the 
flaming sword was set to guard the way to it. And 
that paradise upon earth faded and disappeared. But 
it reappears. ‘Then comes a statelier Eden back to 
man, for Jesus Christ is the restorer of all lost 
blessings; and the Divine purpose and ideal has not 
faded away amidst the clouds of the stormy day of 
earth’s history, like the flush of morning from off the 
plains. Christ brings back the Eden, and quenches the 
flame of the fiery sword; and instead of the repellent 
cherub, there stands Himself with the merciful invita- 
tion upon His lips: ‘Come! Eat; and live for ever.’ 


192 REVELATION (cm. m. 


‘There never was one lost good; what was shall live as before. 


On the earth the broken arcs ; in heaven the perfect round.’ 


Eden shall come back; and the paradise into which the 


victors go is richer and fuller, by all their conflict and — 


their wounds, than ever could have been the simpler 
paradise of which souls innocent, because untried, could 
have been capable. So much for the gift of life. 

II. Notice, secondly, the Giver. 

This is a majestic utterance; worthy of coming from 
the majestic Figure portrayed in the first chapter of 
this book. Init Jesus Christ claims to be the Arbiter 
of men’s deserts and Giver of their rewards. That in- 
volves His judicial function, and therefore His Divine 
as well as human nature. I accept these words as 
truly His words. Of course, if you do not, my present 
remarks have no force for you; but if youdo not, you 
ought to be very sure of your reasons for not doing so; 
and if you do, then I see not how any man who believes 
that Jesus Christ has said that He will give to all the 
multitude of faithful fighters, who have brought their 
shields out of the battle, and their swords undinted, 
the gift of life eternal, can be vindicated from the 
charge of taking too much upon him, except on the 
belief of His Divine nature. 

But I observe, still further, that this great utterance 
of the Lord’s, paralleled in all the other six promises, 
in all of which He is represented as the bestower of the 
reward, whatever it may be, involves another thing, 
viz., the eternal continuance of Christ’s relation to 
men as the Revealer and Mediator of God. ‘I will 


give’—and that not only when the victor crosses the ~ 


threshold and enters the Capitol of the heavens, but all 
through its ceaseless ages Christ is the Medium by which 





v.7] I—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-FOOD _ 193 


the Divine life passesinto men. True, there is a sense 
in which He shall deliver up the kingdom to His Father, 
when the partial end of the present dispensation has 
come. But He is the Priest of mankind for ever; and 
for ever is His kingdom enduring. And through all 
the endless ages, which we have a right to hope we 
shall see, there will never come a point in which it will 
not remain as true as it is at this moment: ‘No man 
hath seen God at any time, nor can see Him; the only 
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He 
hath declared Him.’ Christ is for ever the Giver of 
life in the heavens as on earth. 

Another thing is involved which I think also is often 
lost sight of. The Bible does not know anything 
about what people call ‘natural immortality.’ Life 
here is not given to the infant once for all, and then 
expended through the years, but it is continually being 
bestowed. My belief is that no worm that creeps, nor 
angel that soars, nor any of the beings between, is 
alive for one instant except for the continual com- 
munication from the fountain of life, of the life that 
they live. And still more certainly is it true about 
the future, that there all the blessedness and the exist- 
ence, which is the substratum and condition of the 
blessedness, are only ours because, wavelet by wavelet, 
throbbing out as from a central fountain, there flows 
into the Redeemed a life communicated by Christ Him- 
self. If I might so say—were that continual bestow- 
ment to cease, then heaven, like the vision of a fairy 
tale, would fade away; and there would be nothing 
left where the glory had shone. ‘I will give’ through 
eternity. 

Ill. Lastly, note the Recipients. 

‘To him that overcometh.’ Now I need not say, in 

N 


194 REVELATION (on. ma 





more than a sentence, that it seems to me that the 
fair interpretation of this promise, as of all the other — 
references in Scripture to the future life, is that the © 
reward is immediately consequent upon the céssation 
of the struggle. ‘To depart’ is ‘to be with Christ,’ and 
to be with Christ, in regard of a spirit which has 
passed from the bodily environment, is to be conscious 
of His presence, and lapt in His robe, feeling the 
warmth and the pressure of His heart. So I believe 
that Scripture teaches us that at one moment there 
' may be the clash of battle, and the whiz of the arrows 
round one’s head, and next moment there may be the 
laurel-crowned quiet of the victor. 

But that does not enter so much into our con- 
sideration now. We have, rather, here to think of just 
this one thing, that the giftis given to the victor because 
only the victor is capable of receiving it; that future 
life, interpreted as I have ventured to interpret it in — 
this sermon, is no arbitrary bestowment that could be © 
dealt all round miscellaneously to everybody, if the 
Giver chose so to give. Here on earth many gifts are 
bestowed upon men, and are neglected by them, and 
wasted like water spilled upon the ground; but this 
elixir of life is not poured out so. It is only poured 
into vessels that can take it in and hold it. 

Our present struggle is meant to make us capable of 
the heavenly life. And that is—I was going to say the 
only, but at all events—incomparably the chiefest, of © 
the thoughts which make life not only worth living, 
but great and solemn. Go into a mill, and in a quiet 
room, often detached from the main building, you will 
find the engine working, and seeming to do nothing 
but go up and down. But there is a shaft which goes 
through the wall and takes the power to the looms. 


v.7] I.—THE VICTOR’S LIFE-FOOD = 195 


We are working here, and we are making the cloth 
that we shall have to own and say,‘ Yes, it is my 
manufacture!’ when we get yonder. According to 
our life to-day will be our destiny in the great to- 
morrow. Life is given to the victor, because the victor 
only is capable of possessing it. 

But the victor can only conquer in one way. ‘This,’ 
said John, when he was not an apocalyptic seer, but a 
Christian teacher to the Churches of Asia, ‘this is the 
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.’ 
If we trust in Christ we shall get His power into our 
hearts, and if we get His power into our hearts, then 
‘we shall be more than conquerors through Him that 
loved us.’ Christ gives life eternal, gives it here in 
germ and yonder in fulness. In its fulness only those 
who overcome are capable of receiving it. Those only 
who fight the good fight by His help overcome. Those 
only who trust in Him fight the good fight by His help. 
He gives to eat of the Tree of Life; He gives it to faith, 
but faith must be militant. He gives it to the con- 
queror, but the conqueror must win by faith in Him 
who overcame the world for us, who will help us to 
overcome the world by Him. 

Help us, O our God, we beseech Thee; ‘teach our 
hands to war, and our fingers to fight.’ Give us grace 
to hold fast by the life which is in Jesus Christ; and 
living by Him the lives which we live in the flesh, may 
we be capable, by the discipline of earth’s sorrows, of 
that rest and fuller ‘life which remaineth for the 
people of God.’ 


II.—_THE VICTOR'S LIFE-CROWN 


*. « « He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.’—Rev. ti. 1L 





Two of the seven Churches, viz., Smyrna, to which 
our text is addressed, and Philadelphia—offered no- 
thing, to the pure eyes of Christ, that needed rebuke. 
The same two, and these only, were warned to expect 
persecution. The higher the tone of Christian life in 
the Church, the more likely it is to attract dislike and, — 
if circumstances permit, hostility. Hence the whole 
gist of this letter is to encourage to steadfastness, even 
if the penalty is death. 

That purpose determined at once the aspect of Christ 
which is presented in the beginning, and the aspect of 
future blessedness which is held forth at the close. The 
aspect of Christ is—‘these things saith the First and 
the Last, which was dead and is alive’; a fitting 
thought to encourage the men who were to be called 
upon to die for Him. And, in like manner, the words 
of our text naturally knit themselves with the previous 
mention of death as the penalty of the Smyrneans’ 
faithfulness. 

Now this promise is sharply distinguished from those 
to the other Churches by two peculiarities : one, that it 
is merely negative, whilst all the rest are radiantly 
positive; the other, that there is no mention of our — 
Lord in it, whilst in all the others He stands forth with — 
His emphatic and majestic ‘Z will give’; ‘Z will write 
upon him My new Name’; ‘J will make him a pillar in 
the temple of My God.’ The first peculiarity may 
partially account for the second, because the Giver is 


naturally more prominent in a promise of positive 
196 


v.11] IL—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-CROWN 197 


gifts, than in one of a merely negative exemption. But 
another reason is to be found for the omission of the 
mention of our Lord in this promise. If you will refer 
to the verse immediately preceding my text, you will 
find the missing positive promise with the missing 
reference to Jesus Christ: ‘I will give thee a crown of 
life. So that we are naturally led to link together 
both these statements when taking account of the 
hopes that were held forth to animate the Christians 
of Smyrna in the prospect of persecution even to the 
death; and we have to consider them both in conjunc- 
tion now. I think I shall best do so by-simply asking 
you to look at these two things: the Christian motive 
contained in the victor’s immunity from a great evil, 
and the Christian motive contained in the victor’s 
possession of a great good. ‘He shall not be hurt of 
the second death.’ ‘I will give thee a crown of life.’ 

I. The Christian motive contained in the victor’s 
immunity from a great evil. 

Now that solemn and thrilling expression ‘the second 
death’ is peculiar to this book of the Apocalypse. The 
name is peculiar; the thing is common to all the New 
Testament writers. Here it comes with especial appro- 
priateness, in contrast with the physical death which 
was about to be inflicted upon some members of the 
Smyrnean Church. But beyond that there lies in the 
phrase a very solemn and universally applicable mean- 
ing. I do not feel, dear brethren, that such a thing 
ought to be made matter of pulpit rhetoric. The bare 
_ vagueness of it seems to me to shake the heart a great 
deal more than any weakening expansion of it that we 
can give. 

But yet, let me say one word. Then, behind that grim 
figure, the shadow feared of man that waits for all at 


7 
198 REVELATION (CH. 11. 


some turn of their road, cloaked and shrouded, there | 
rises a still grimmer and more awful form, ‘if form it — 
can be called which form hath none.’ There is some- 
thing, at the back of physical death, which can lay its © 
grip upon the soul that is already separated from the 
body ; something running on the same lines somehow, ~ 
and worthy to bear that name of terror and disintegra- 
tion—‘the second death.’ What can it be? Not the 
cessation of conscious existence; that is never the 
meaning of death. But let us apply the key which 
opens so many of the locks of the New Testament say- 
ings about the future that the true and deepest mean- 
ing of death is separation from Him who is the fountain — 
of life, and in a very deep sense is the only life of the 
universe. Separation from God; that is death. What 
touches the surface of mere bodily life is but a faint 
shadow and parable, and the second death, like a second 
tier of mountains, rises behind and above it, sterner 
and colder than the lower hills of the foreground. 
What desolation, what unrest, what blank misgivings, 
what pealing off of capacities, faculties, opportunities, 
delights, may be involved in that solemn conception, 
we never can tell here—God grant that we may never 
know! Like some sea-creature, cast high and dry on 
the beach, and gasping out its pained being, the men 
that are separated from God die whilst they live, and 
live a living death. The second is the comparative 
degree, of which the first is the positive. 

Now note again that immunity from this solemn 
fate is no small part of the victor’s blessedness. At 
first sight we feel as if the mere negative promise of 
my text stands on a lower level than what I have called 
the radiantly positive ones in the other letters; but 
it is worthy to stand beside these. Gather them to- 





v.11] I1.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-CROWN 199 


gether, and think of how manifold and glorious the 
dim suggestions which they make of felicity and pro- 
gress are, and then set by the side of them this one of 
our text as worthy to stand there. To eat of the Tree 
of Life; to have power over the nations; to rule them 
with a rod of iron; to blaze with the brightness of the 
morning star; to eat of the hidden manna; to bear the 
new name known only to those who receive it; to have 
that name confessed before the Father and His angels ; 
to be a pillar in the Temple of the Lord; to go no 
more out; and to sit with Christ on His throne :—these 
are the positive promises, along with which this barely 
negative one is linked, and is worthy to be linked: 
‘He shall not be hurt of the second death.’ 

If this immunity from that fate is fit to stand ix 
line with these glimpses of an inconceivable glory, how 
solemn must be the fate, and how real the danger of our 
falling into it! Brethren, in this day it has become 
unfashionable to speak of that future, especially of its 
sterner aspects. The dimness of the brightest revela- 
tions in the New Testament, the unwillingness to accept 
it as the source of certitude with regard to the future, 
the recoil from the stern severity of Divine retribution, 
the exaggerated and hideous guise in which that great 
truth was often presented in the past, the abounding 
worldliness of this day, many of its best tendencies and 
many of its worst ones concur in making some of us 
look with very little interest, and scarcely credence, at 
the solemn words of which the New Testament is full. 
But I, for my part, accept them; and I dare not but, 
in such proportion to the rest of revelation as seems to 
me to be right, bring them before you. I beseech you, 
recognise the solemn teaching that lies in this thought, 
that this negative promise of immunity from the second 


200 REVELATION (CH. 11. 


death stands parallel with all these promises of felicity 
and blessedness. 

Further, note that such immunity is regarded here 
as the direct outcome of the victor’s conduct and char- 
acter. I have already pointed out the peculiarities 
marking our text. The omission of any reference to our 
Lord in it is accounted for, as suggested, by that refer- 
ence occurring in the immediately preceding context, 
but it may also be regarded as suggesting—when con- 
sidered in contrast with the other promises, where He 
stands forward as the giver of heavenly blessedness— 
that that future condition is to be regarded not only as 
retribution, which implies the notion of a judge, and 
a@ punitive or rewarding energy on his part, but also 
as being the necessary result of the earthly life that is 
lived ; a harvest of which we sow the seeds here. 

Transient deedsconsolidate into permanentcharacter. 
Beds of sandstone rock, thousands of feet thick, are the 
sediment dropped from vanished seas, or borne down 
by long dried-up rivers. The actions which we often 
so unthinkingly perform, whatever may be the width 
and the permanency of their effects external to us, 
react upon ourselves, and tend to make our permanent 
bent or twist or character. The chalk cliffs at Dover 
are the skeletons of millions upon millions of tiny 
organisms, and our little lives are built up by the re- 
currence of transient deeds, which leave their per- 
manent marks upon us. They make character, and 
character determines position yonder. As said the 
Apostle, with tender sparingness, and yet with profound 
truth, ‘he went to his own place, wherever that was. 
The surroundings that he was fitted for came about 
him, and the company that he was fit for associated 
themselves with him. So in another part of this book 


ee I 


v.11] I1L—THE VICTOR’S LIFE-CROWN 201 


where the same solemn expression, ‘ the second death,’ 
is employed, we read, ‘These shall have their pari 
in... the second death’: the lot that belongs to them. 
Character and conduct determine position. However 
small the lives here, they settle the far greater ones 
hereafter, just as a tiny wheel ina machine may, by 
cogs and other mechanical devices, transmit its motion 
to another wheel at a distance, many times its diameter. 
You move this end of a lever through an arc of an inch, 
and the other end will move through an arc of yards. 
The little life here determines the sweep of the greatone 
that is lived yonder. The victor wears his past conduct 
and character, if I may so say, as a fireproof garment, 
and if he entered the very furnace, heated seven times 
hotter than before, there would be no smell of fire upon 
him. ‘He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the 
second death.’ 

II. Now note, secondly, the Christian motive con- 
tained in the victor’s reception of a great good. 

‘I will give him a crown of life.’ I need not remind 
you, I suppose, that this metaphor of ‘the crown’ is 
found in other instructively various places in the New 
Testament. Paul, for instance, speaks of his own 
personal hope of ‘the crown of righteousness. James 
speaks, as does the letter to the Smyrnean Church, of 
‘the crown of life. Peter speaks ‘of the crown of 
glory. Paul, in another place, speaks of ‘the crown 
‘incorruptible.’ And all these express substantially the 
one idea. There may be a question as to whether the 
word employed here for the crown is to be taken in 
its strictly literal acceptation as meaning, not a kingly 
coronal, buta garland. But seeing that, although that 
is the strict meaning of the word, it is employed ina 
subsequent part of the letter to designate what must 


202 REVELATION (cH. 


evidently be kingly crowns—viz., in the fourth chapter 
—there seems to be greater probability in the supposi- 
tion that we are warranted in including under the 
symbolism here both the aspects of the crown as royal, 
and also as laid upon the brows of the victors in the 
games or the conflict. I venture to take it in that 
meaning. Substantially the promise is the same as 
that which we were considering in the previous letter, 
‘I will give him to eat of the Tree of Life’; the promise 
of life in all the depth and fulness and sweep of that 
great encyclopedical word. But it is life considered 
from a special point of view that is set forth here. 

It is a kingly life. Of course that notion of regality 
and dominion, as the prerogative of the redeemed and 
glorified servants of Jesus Christ, is for ever cropping 
up in this book of the Revelation. And you remember 
how our Lord has set the example of its use when 
He said, ‘Have thou authority over ten cities.’ 


What may lie in that great symbol it is not for us — 


to say. The rule over ourselves, over circumstances, 
the deliverance from the tyranny of the external, the 
deliverance from the slavery of the body and its lusts 
and passions, these are all included. The man that can 
will rightly, and can do completely as he rightly wills, 
that man is a king. But there is more than that. 
There is the participation in wondrous, and for us in- 


conceivable, ways, in the majesty and regality of the — 


King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore did the 
crowned elders before the throne sing a new song to the 


Lamb, who made redeemed men out of every tribe and © 


tongue, to be to God a kingdom, and priests who should 
reign upon the earth. 

But, brethren, remember that this conception of a 
kingly life is to be interpreted according to Christ's 


om 
: 





v.11] II.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-CROWN 203 


own teaching of that wherein royalty in His kingdom 
consists. For heaven, as for earth, the purpose of 
dominion is service, and the use of power is beneficence. 
‘He that is chiefest of all, let him be servant of all,’ is 
the law for the regalities of heaven as well as for the 
lowliness of earth. 

That life is a triumphant life. The crown was laid 
on the head of the victor in the games. Think of the 
victor as he went back, flushed and modest, to his 
village away up on the slopes of some of the mountain- 
chains of Greece. With what a tumult of acclaim he 
would be hailed! If we do our work and fight our 
fight down here as we ought, we shall enter into the 
great city not unnoticed, not unwelcomed, but with the 
praise of the King and the pzans of His attendants. 
‘I will confess his name before My Father and the 
holy angels.’ 

That life is a festal life. The garlands are twined 
on the heated brows of revellers, and the fumes of the 
wine and the closeness of the chamber soon make them 
wiltand droop. This amaranthine crown fadeth never. 
And the feast expresses for us the felicities, the 
abiding satisfactions without satiety, the blessed com- 
panionship, the repose which belong to the crowned. 
Royalty, triumph, festal goodness, all fused together, 
are incomplete, but they are not useless symbols. May 
we experience their fulfilment! 

Brethren, the crown is promised not merely to the 
man that says, ‘I have faith in Jesus Christ,’ but to 
him who has worked out his faith into faithfulness, 
and by conduct and character has made himself capable 
of the felicities of the heavens. If thatimmortal crown 
‘were laid upon the head of another, it would be a crown 
of thorns; for the joys of that future require the fitness 


Bis 


204 REVELATION [cm 


which comes from the apprenticeship to faith and 
faithfulness here on earth. We evangelical preachers 
are often taunted with preaching that future blessed- 
ness comes as the result of the simple act of belief. 
Yes; but only if, and when, the simple act of faith, 
which is more than belief, is wrought out in the love- 
liness of faithfulness. ‘We are made partakers of 
Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence © 
firm unto the end.’ 

Now, dear friends, I dare say that some of you may > 
be disposed to brush aside these fears and hopes as — 
very low motives, unworthy to be appealed to; but I 
cannot soregardthem. I know that the appeal to fear 
is directed to the lower order of sentiments, but itisa — 
legitimate motive. It is meant to stir us up to gird 
ourselves against the dangers which we wisely dread. 
And I, for my part, believe that we preachers are going 
aside from our Pattern, and are flinging away a very 
powerful weapon, in the initial stages of religious 
experience, if we are afraid to bring before men’s hearts - 
and answering consciences the solemn facts of the 
future which Jesus Christ Himself has revealed to us. 
We are no more to be blamed for it than the signal- 
man for waving his red flag. And I fancy that there 
are some of my present hearers who would be nearer 
the love of God if they took more to heart the fear 
of the Lord and of His judgment. 

Hope is surely a perfectly legitimate motive to appeal 
to. Weare not to be good because we thereby escape 
hell and secure heaven. We are to be good, because 
Jesus Christ wills us to be, and has won us to love Him, 
or has sought to win us to love Him, by His great 
sacrifice for us. But that being the basis, men can be — 
brought to build upon it by the compulsion of fear and i . 


4 


y 


v.11] III.—THE VICTCR’S LIFE-SECRET 205 


by the attraction of hope. And that being the deepest 
motive, there is a perfectly legitimate and noble sphere 
for the operation of these two other lower motives, the 
consideration of the personal evils that attend the 
opposite course, and of the personal gocd that follows 
from cleaving to Him. Am I to be told that Polycarp, 
Bishop of Smyrna, who went to his martyrdom, and 
was ‘faithful unto death, with the words on his lips: 
‘Highty-and-six years have I served Him, and He has 
done me nothing but good; how shall I deny my King 
and my Saviour!’ was yielding to a low motive when 
to him the crown that the Master promised to the 
Church of which he was afterwards bishop floated above 
the head that was soon to be shorn off, and on whose 
blood-stained brows it was then to fall? Would that 
we had more of such low motives! Would that we 
had more of such high lives as fear nothing because 
they ‘have respect to the recompense of the reward,’ 
and are ready for service or martyrdom, because they 
hear and believe the crowned Christ saying to them: 
‘Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a 
crown of life.’ 


IlII—THE VICTORS LIFE-SECRET 


*... Tohim that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will 
give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man 
- knoweth saving he that receiveth it.’—RREyv. ii. 17. 


THe Church at Pergamos, to which this promise is 
addressed, had a sharper struggle than fell to the lot 
of the two Churches whose epistles precede this. It 
was set ‘where Satan’s seat is. Pergamos was a 
special centre of heathen worship, and already the 
blood of a faithful martyr had been shed in it. The 


206 REVELATION (ow. 1. 


severer the struggle, the nobler the reward. Con- 
sequently the promise given to this militant Church 
surpasses, in some respects, those held out to the 
former two. They were substantially promised that 
life eternal, which indeed includes everything; but 
here some of the blessed contents of that life are ex- 
panded and emphasised. 

There is a threefold promise given: ‘the hidden 
manna, ‘the white stone,’ a ‘new name’ written. The 
first and the last of these are evidently the most 
important. They need little explanation; of the central 
one ‘the white stone,’ a bewildering variety of inter- 
pretations—none of them, as it seems to me, satisfac- 
tory—have been suggested. Possibly there may be an 
allusion to the ancient custom of dropping the votes of 
the judges into an urn—a white pebble meaning inno- 
cence and acquittal; black meaning guilty—just as we, 
under somewhat similar circumstances, talk about 
‘blackballing. But the objection to that interpreta- 
tion lies in the fact that the ‘ white stone’ of our text 
is given to the person concerned, and not deposited 
elsewhere. There may be an allusion to a practice, 
which antiquarians have hunted out, of conferring 
upon the victors in the games a little tile with a name 
inscribed upon it, which gave admission to the public 
festivals. But all the explanations are so doubtful 
that one hesitates to accept any of them. There re- 
mains one other alternative, which seems to me to be 
suggested by the very language of the text, viz., that 
the ‘white stone’ is here named—with possibly some 
subsidiary thought of innocence and purity—merely as 
the vehicle for the name. And so I dismiss it from 
further consideration, and concentrate our thoughts 
on the remaining two promises. 


—  -_ eer —_—-. 


v.17] III.—THE VICTOR’S LIFE-SECRET 207 


I. We have the victor’s food, the manna. 

That seems, at first sight, a somewhat infelicitous 
symbol, because manna was wilderness food. But that 
characteristic is not to be taken into account. Manna, 
though it fell in the wilderness, came from heaven, 
and it is the heavenly food that is suggested by the 
symbol. When the warrior passes from the fight into 
the city, the food which came down from heaven will 
be given to him in fulness. It is a beautiful thought 
that as soon as the man, ‘spent with changing blows,’ 
and weary with conflict, enters the land of peace, there 
is a table spread for him; not, as before, in ‘the 
presence of his enemies, but in the presence of the 
companions of his repose. One moment hears the din 
of the battlefield, the next moment feels the refresh- 
ment of the heavenly manna. 

But now there can be little need for dealing, by way 
of exposition, with this symbol. Let us rather try to 
lay it upon our hearts. 

Now the first thing that it plainly suggests to us is 
the absolute satisfaction of all the hunger of the heart. 
It is possible, and for those that overcome it will one 
day be actual experience, that a man shall have every- 
thing that he wishes the moment that he wishes it. 
Here we have to suppress desires, sometimes because 
they are illegitimate and wrong, sometimes because 
circumstances sternly forbid their indulgence. There, 
- to desire will be to have, and partly by the rectifying 
of the appetite, partly by the fulness of the supply, 
there will be no painful sense of vacuity, and no 
clamouring of the unsubdued heart for good that is 
beyond its reach. They—and you and I may be 
amongst them, and so we may say ‘ we’—‘ shall hunger 
no more, neither thirst any more.’ Oh, brethren! to 


208 REVELATION (or. 1. 


us who are driven into activity by desires, half of — 


which go to water and are never fulfilled—to us who 
know what it is to try to tame down the hungering, 
yelping wishes and longings of our souls—to us who 
have so often spent our ‘money for that which is not 
bread, and our labour for that which satisfieth not,’ it 
ought to be a Gospel: ‘I will give him to eat of the 
hidden manna.’ Is it such to you? Do you believe it 
possible, and are you addressing yourselves to make 
the fulfilment of it actual in your case? 

Then there is the other plain thing suggested here, 
that that satisfaction does not dull the edge of appetite 
or desire. Bodily hunger is fed, is replete, wants 
nothing more until the lapse of time and digestion 
have intervened. But it is not so with the loftiest 
satisfactions. There are some select, noble, blessed 
desires even here, concerning which we know that the 
more we have, the more we hunger with a hunger which 
has no pain in it, but is only the greatened capacity 
for greater enjoyment. You that know what happy 
love is know what that means—a satisfaction which 
never approaches satiety, a hunger which has in it no 
gnawing. And in the loftiest and most perfect of all 
realms, that co-existence of perfect fruition and perfect 
desire will be still more wondrously and blessedly 
manifest. At each moment the more we have, the 
wider will our hearts be expanded by possession, and 
the wider they are expanded the more will they be 
capable of receiving, and the more they are capable of 
receiving the more deep and full and blessed and all- 
covering will be the inrush of the river of the water of 
life. Satisfaction without satiety, food which leaves 
him blessedly appetised for larger bestowments, belong 
to the victor. 





. 


v.17] I1.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-SECRET 209 


Another thing to be noticed here is what we have 
already had occasion to point out in the previous 
promises: ‘I will give him.’ Do you remember our 
Lord’s own wonderful words: ‘Blessed are those 
servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find 
_ watching: verily I say unto you, that He shall gird 
Himself, and shall come forth and serve them’? The 
victor is seated at the board, and the Prince, as in some 
earthly banquet to a victorious army, Himself moves 
up and down amongst the tables, and supplies the 
wants of the guests. There was an old Jewish tradi- 
tion; which perhaps may have influenced the form of 
this promise, to the effect that the Messiah, when He 
came, would bring again to the people the gift of the 
manna, and men should once more eat angels’ food. 
Whether there is any allusion to that poetic fancy or 
no in the words of my text, the reality infinitely trans- 
scends it. Christ Himself bestows upon His servants 
the sustenance of their spirits in the realm above. But 
there is more than that. Christ is not only the Giver, 
but He is Himself the Food. I believe that the deepest 
meaning of this sevenfold cluster of jewels, the pro- 
mises to these seven Churches, is in each case Christ. 
He is the Tree of Life; He is the Crown of Life, He zs 
—as well as gives—‘the hidden manna.’ You will 
remember how He Himself gives us this interpretation 
when, in answer to the Jewish taunt, ‘Our fathers did 
eat manna in the wilderness. What dost Thou work?’ 
He said, ‘I am that Bread of God that came down from 
heaven.’ 

So, then, once more, we come back to the all-import- 
ant teaching that, whatever be the glories of the 
perfected flower and fruit in heaven, the germ and 
root of it is already here. The man who lives upon 

oO 


210 REVELATION (cH. 1 


the Christ by faith, love, obedience, imitation, com- 
munion, aspiration, here on earth, has already the 
earnest of that feast. No doubt there will be aspects — 
and sweetnesses and savours and sustenance in the 
heavenly form of our possession of, and living on, Him, ~ 
which we here on earth know nothing about. But no — 
doubt also the beginning and positive degree of all 
these sweetnesses and savours and sustenances yet to 
be revealed is found in the experience of the man who 
has listened to the cry of that loving voice, ‘ Eat, and 
your souls shall live’; and has taken Jesus Christ 
Himself, the living Person, to be not only the source 
but the nourishment of his spiritual life. 

So, brethren, it is of no use to pretend to ourselves 
that we should like—as they put it in bald, popular 
language—to ‘go to heaven,’ unless we are using and 
relishing that of heaven which is here to-day. If you 
do not like the earthly form of feeding upon Jesus 
Christ, which is trusting Him, giving your heart to 
Him, obeying Him, thinking about Him, treading in 
His footsteps, you would not like, you would like less, — 
the heavenly form of that feeding upon Him. If you 
would rather have the strong-smelling garlic and the 
savoury leeks—to say nothing about the swine’s trough 
and the husks—than ‘this light bread,’ the ‘angels’ 
food,’ which your palates cannot stand and your 
stomachs cannot digest, you could not swallow it if it 
were put into your lips when you get beyond the 
grave; and you would not like it if youcould. Christ © 
forces this manna into no man’s mouth; but Christ 
gives it to all who desire it and are fit forit. Asis the 
man’s appetite, so is the man’s food; and so is the life 
that results therefrom. 

II. Note the victor’s new name. 





v.17] II1L—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-SECRET 211 


Ihave often had occasion to point out to you that 
Scripture attaches, in accordance with Eastern habit, 
large importance to names, which are intended to be 
significant of character, or circumstances, or parental 
hopes or desires. So that, both in reference to God 
and man, names come to be the condensed expression 
of the character and the personality. When we read, 
‘I will give him a stone, on which there is a new name 
written,’ we infer that the main suggestion made in 
that promise is of a change in the self, something new 
in the personality and the character. I need not dwell 
upon this, for we have no material by which to expand 
into detail the greatness of the promise. I would only 
remind you of how we are taught to believe that the 
dropping away of the corporeal and removal from 
this present scene carries with it, in the case of those 
who have here on earth begun to walk with Christ, 
and to become citizens of the spiritual realm, changes 
great, ineffable, and all tending in the one direction of 
making the servants more fully like their Lord. What 
new capacities may be evolved by the mere fact of 
losing the limitations of the bodily frame; what new 
points of contact with a new universe; what new 
analogues of what we here call our senses and means 
of perception of the external world may be the accom- 
paniments of the disembarrassment from ‘the earthly 
house of this tabernacle, we dare not dream. We 
could not, if we were told, rightly understand. But, 
surely, if the tenant is taken from a clay hut and set 
in a royal house, eternal, not made with hands, its 
windows must be wider and more transparent, and 
there must be an inrush of wondrously more brilliant 
light into the chambers. 

But whatsoever be these changes, they are changes 


212 REVELATION fonts ie 


that repose upon that which has been in the past. 
And so the second thought that is suggested by this 
new name is that these changes are the direct results 
of the victor’s course. Both in old times and in the 
peerage of England you will find names of conquerors, 
by land or by water, who carry in their designations 
and transmit to their descendants the memorial of 
their victories in their very titles. In like manner as a 
Scipio was called Africanus, as a Jervis became Lord 
St. Vincent, so the victor’s ‘new name’ is the concen- 
tration and memorial of the victor’s conquest. And 
what we have wrought and fought here on earth we 
carry with us, as the basis of the changes from glory 
to glory which shall come in the heavens. ‘They rest 
from their labours; their works do follow them,’ and, 
gathering behind the laurelled victor, attend him as he 
ascends the hill of the Lord. 

But once more we come to the thought that what- 
ever there may be of change in the future, the main 
direction of the character remains, and the consolidated 
issues of the transient deeds of earth remain, and the 
victor’s name is the summing up of the victor’s life. 

But, further, Christ gives the name. He changed 
the names of His disciples. Simon He called Cephas, 
James and John He called ‘Sons of Thunder. The act 
claimed authority, and designated a new relation to 
Him. Both these ideas are conveyed in the promise: 
‘I will give him... a new name written. Only, 
brethren, remember that the transformation keeps 
true to the line of direction begun here, and the pro- 
cess of change has to be commenced on earth. They 
who win the new name of heaven are they of whom it 


would be truly said, while they bore the old name of — 


earth, ‘If any man be in Christ he is a new creature.’ 





- 


ee 


v.17] IT1.—THE VICTOR’S LIFE-SECRET 213 


‘Old things are passed silat behold, all things are 
become new.’ 

IIL. Lastly, note the mystery of both the food and 
the name. 

‘I will give him the hidden manna... anew name 

.. Which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth 
it. Now we all know that the manna was laid up in 
the Ark, beneath the Shekinah, within the curtain of 
the holiest place. And, besides that, there was a 
Jewish tradition that the Ark and its contents, which 
disappeared after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruc- 
tion of the first Temple, had been buried by the prophet 
Jeremiah, and lay hidden away somewhere on the 
sacred soil, until the Messiah should return. There may 
be an allusion to that here, but it is not necessary to 
suppose it. The pot of manna lay in the Ark of the 
Covenant, of which we hear in another part of tke 
symbolism in this book, within the veil in the holiest 
of all. And Christ gives the victor to partake of that 
sacred and secret food. The name which is given ‘no 
man knoweth saving he thatreceiveth it.’ Both symbols 
point to the one thought, the impossibility of knowing 
until we possess and experience. 

That impossibility besets all the noblest, highest, 
purest, divinest emotions and possessions of earth. 
Poets have sung of love and sorrow from the beginning 
of time; but men must love to know what love means. 
Every woman has heard about the sweetness of mater- 
nity, but not till the happy mother holds her infant to 
her breast does she understand it. And so we may 
talk till Doomsday, and yet it would remain true that 
Wwe must eat the manna, and look upon the white stone 
for ourselves, before we can adequately comprehend. 

Since, then, experience alone admits to the know- 


214 REVELATION (cH. 


ledge, how vulgar, how futile, how absolutely destruc- — 
tive of the very purpose which they are intended to © 
subserve are all the attempts of men to forecast that — 
ineffable glory. It is too great to be understood. The — 
mountains that ring us round keep the secret well of 
the fair lands beyond. There are questions that bleed- 
ing hearts sometimes ask, questions which prurient 
curiosity more often ask, and which foolish people to- 
day are taking illegitimate means of solving, about 
that future life, which are all left—though some of 
them might conceivably have been answered —in 
silence. Enough for us to listen to the voice that says, 
‘In My Father's house are many mansions ’—room for 
you and me—‘ if it were not so I would have told you.’ 
For the silence is eloquent. The curtain is the picture, 
The impossibility of telling is the token of the great- 
ness of the thing to betold. Hope needs but little yarn 
to weave her web with. I believe that the dimness is 
part of the power of that heavenly prospect. Let us 
be reticent before it. Let us remember that, though 
our knowledge is small and our eyes dim, Christ knows 
all, and we shall be with Him; and so say, with no 
sense of pained ignorance or unsatisfied curiosity, 
‘It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know 
that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for 
we shall see Him as He is.’ Cannot our hearts add, ‘It 
is enough for the servant that he be as his master’? 

An old commentator on this verse says, ‘Wouldst 
thou know what manner of new name thou shalt bear? 
Overcome. Itis vain for thee to ask beforehand. Here- 
after thou shalt soon see it written on the white stone. 

Help us, O Lord, to fight the good fight of faith, in 
the sure confidence that Thou wilt receive us, and re- 
fresh us, and renew us. 





THE FIRST AND LAST WORKS 


*I know thy last works. . . to be more than the first.’—REv. fi. 19. 


It is beautiful to notice that Jesus Christ, in this letter, 
says all He can of praise before He utters a word of 
blame. He is glad when His eye, which is as a flame 
of fire, sees in His children that which He can commend. 
Praise from Him is praise indeed ; and it does not need 
that the act should be perfect in order to get His com- 
mendation. The main thing is, which way does it 
look? Direction, and not attainment, is what He com- 
mends. And if the deed of the present moment be 
better than the deed of the last, though there be still 
a great gap between it and absolute completeness, the 
commendation of my text applies, and is never grudg- 
ingly rendered. ‘I know thy last done works to be 
more than the first.’ 

There is blame in plenty, grave, and about grave 
matters, following in this letter, but that is not per- 
mitted in the slightest degree to diminish the warmth 
and heartiness of the commendation. 

I. So these words tell us, first, what every Christian 
life is meant to be. 

A life of continual progress, in which each ‘to-morrow 
shall be as this day, and much more abundant,’ in 
reference to all that is good and noble and true is the 
ideal after which every Christian man, by his profes- 
sion, is bound to aim, because in the gospel that we 
say we believe there lie positively infinite powers to 
make us perfectly pure and noble and complete all 
round. And in it there lie, if we lay them upon 


our hearts, and let them work, positively omnipotent 
215 


. 


216 REVELATION [cH. IL 


motives, to impel us with unwearied and ever-growing 
earnestness towards likeness to the Master whom we 
say we love andserve. A continuous progress towards 
and in all good of every sort is the very law of the 
Christian life. 

The same law holds good in regard to all regions of 
life. Everybody knows, and a hundred commonplace 
proverbs tell us, that practice makes perfect, that the 
man who carries a little weight to-day will be able to 
carry a bigger one to-morrow; that powers exercised 
are rewarded by greater strength; that he that begins 
by a short march, though he is wearied after he has 
walked a mile or two, will be able to walk a great deal 
farther the next day. In all departments of effort it 
is true that the longer we continue in a course, the 
easier ought it be to do the things, and the larger 
ought to be the results. The fruit tree does not begin 
to bear for a year or two, and when it does come the 
crop is neither in size nor in abundance anything to 
compare with that which is borne afterwards. 

In the samé way, for the Christian course, continual 
progress and an ever-widening area of the life con- 
quered for and filled with Christ, manifestly ought to 
be the law. ‘Forgetting the things that are behind, 
reaching forth toward the things that are before, we 
press toward the mark.’ Every metaphor about the 
life of the Christian soul carries the same lesson. Is 
ita building? Then course by course it rises. Is it 
atree? Then year by yearit spreads a broader shadow, 
and its leafy crown reaches nearer heaven. Is it a 
body? Then from childhood to youth, and youth to 
manhood, it grows. Christianity is growth, continual, 
all-embracing, and unending. 

II. The next remark that I make is this, the com- 


| 


v.19] THE FIRST AND LAST WORKS 217 


mendation of Christ describes what a sadly large pro- 
portion of professedly Christian lives are not. 

Do you think, brethren, that if He were to come 
amongst us now with these attributes which the context 
gives us, with His ‘eyes like unto a flame of fire’ to 
behold, and His ‘feet like unto fine brass’ to tread 
down all opposition and evil, He would find amongst 
us what would warrant His pure lips in saying this 
about us, either as a community or as individuals—‘I 
know that thy last works are more than thy first’? 

What is the ordinary history of the multitudes of 
professing Christians? Something which they call— 
rightly or wrongly is not the question for the moment 
—‘conversion,’ then a year or two, or perhaps a month 
or two, or perhaps a week or two, or perhaps a day or 
two, of profound earnestness, of joyful consecration, 
of willing obedience—and then back swarm the old 
ties, and habits, and associations. Many professing 
Christians are cases of arrested development, like some 
of those monstrosities that you see about our pave- 
ments—a full-grown man in the upper part with no 
under limbs at all to speak of, aged half a century, and 
only half the height of a ten-year-old child. Are there 
not multitudes of so-called Christian people, in all our 
churches and communities, like that? I wonder if 
there are any of them here to-night, that have not 
grown a bit for years, whose deeds yesterday were just 
the same as their deeds to-day, and so on through a 
long, dreary, past perspective of unprogressive life, 
the old sins cropping up with the old power and venom, 
the old weak bits in the dyke bursting out again every 
winter, and at each flood, after all tinkering and mend- 
ing, the old faults as rampant as ever, the new life as 
feeble, fluttering, spasmodic, uncertain. They grow, if 


218 REVELATION (CH. 11. 


at all, by fits and starts, after the fashion, say, of a 
tree that every winter goes to sleep, and only makes 
wood for a little while in the summer time. Or they 
do not grow even as regularly as that, but there will 
come sometimes an hour or two of growth, and then 
long dreary tracts in which there is no progress at all, 
either in understanding of Christian doctrine or in the 
application of Christian precept; no increase of con- 
formity to Jesus Christ, no increase of realising hold of 
His love, no clearer or more fixed and penetrating con- 
templation of the unseen realities, than there used to 
be long, long ago. How many of us are babes in Christ 
when we have grey hairs upon our heads, and when 
for the time we ought to be teachers have need that 
one should teach us again which be the first principles 
of the oracles of God? 

Oh! dear friends, it seems to me sometimes that that 
notion of the continuous growth in Christian under- 
standing and feeling and character, as attaching to 
the very essence of the Christian life, is clean gone out 
of the consciousness of half the professing Christians 
of thisday. How far our notions about Church fellow- 
ship, and reception of people into the Church, and the 
like, have to do with it, is not for me to discuss here, 
Only this I cannot help feeling, that if Jesus Christ 
came into most of our congregations nowadays He 
would not, and could not, say what He said to these 
poor people at Thyatira, ‘I know thy last works are 
more than tby first.’ 

Well, then, let us remember that if He cannot say 
that, He has to say the opposite. I take it that the 
words of my text are a distinct allusion to other words 
of His, when He spoke the converse, about the ‘last 
state of that man as worse than the first.’ The allusion 


v.19] THE FIRST AND LAST WORKS 219 


is obvious, I think, and it is also made in the Second 
Epistle of Peter, where we find a similar description of 
the man who has fallen away from Jesus Christ. Let us 
learn the lesson that either to-day is better than yester- 
day or it is worse. If a man ona bicycle stands still, 
he tumbles. The condition of keeping upright is to 
go onwards. If a climber on an Alpine ice-slope does 
not put all his power into the effort to ascend, he can- 
not stick at the place, at an angle of forty-five degrees 
upon ice, but down he is bound to go. Unless, by effort, 
he overcomes gravitation, he will be at the bottom very 
soon. And so, if Christian people are not daily getting 
better, they are daily getting worse. And this will be 
the end of it, the demon that was cast out will go back 
to his house, which he finds ‘swept and garnished’ 
indeed, but ‘empty,’ because there is no all-filling 
principle of love to Jesus Christ living in it. He finds 
itempty. Nature abhors a vacuum; and in he goes 
with his seven friends; and ‘the last of that man is 
worse than the first.’ 

There are two alternatives before us. I would that 
I could feel for myself always, and that you felt for 
yourselves, that one or other of them must describe us 
as professing Christians. Hither we are getting more 
Christlike or we are daily getting less so. 

III. Lastly, my text, in its relation to this whole 
letter, suggests how this commendation may become 
ours. 

Notice the context. Christ says, according to the 
improved reading which will be found in the Revised 
Version: ‘I know thy works, and love, and faith, and 
service’ (or ministry), ‘and patience, and that thy last 
works are more than the first.’ That is to say, the great 
way by which we can secure this continual growth in the 


220 REVELATION [ou. 0. 


manifestations of Christian life is by making it a habit 
to cultivate what produces it, viz., these two things, 
charity (or love) and faith. 

These are the roots; they need cultivating. A 
Christian man’s love to Jesus Christ will not grow of 
itself any more than his faith will. Unless we make a 
conscience by prayer, by reading of the Scriptures, by 
subjecting ourselves to the influences provided for the 
purpose in His word, of strengthening our faith and 
warming our love, both will dwindle and become fruit- 
less, bearing ‘nothing but leaves’ of barren though 
glittering profession. You need to cultivate faith and 
love just as much as tocultivate any other faculty or any 
other habit. Neglected, they are sure todie. If they are 
not cultivated, then their results of ‘ service’ (or ‘ mini- 
stry ’) and ‘patience’ are sure to become less and less. 

These two, faith and love, are the roots; their vitality 
determines the strength and abundance of the fruit 
that is borne. And unless you dig about them and 
take care of them, they are sure to die in the unkindly 
soil of our poor rocky hearts, and blown upon by the 
nipping winds that howl round the world. If we want 
our works to increase in number and to rise in quality, 
let us see to it that we make an honest habit of culti- 
vating that which is their producing cause—love to 
Jesus Christ and faith in Him. 

And then the text still further suggests another 
thought. At the end of the letter I read: ‘He that 
overcometh and keepeth My works to the end, to him 
will I give,’ ete. 

Now mark what were called ‘thy works’ in the 
beginning of the letter are called ‘My works’ in its 
close. And it is laid down here that the condition of vie- 
tory, and the prerequisite to a throne and dominion, 


7.19] THE FIRST AND LAST WORKS 221 


is the persevering and pertinacious keeping unto the 
end of these which are now called ‘Christ’s works’ 
—that is to say, if we want that the Master shall 
see in us a continuous growth towards Himself, then, 
in addition to cultivating the habit of faith and love, 
we must cultivate the other habit of looking to Him as 
the source of all the work that we dofor Him. And 
when we have passed from the contemplation of our 
deeds as ours, and come to. look upon all that we do 
of right and truth and beauty as Christ working in us, 
then there is a certainty of our work increasing in 
nobility and in extent. The more we lose ourselves 
and feel ourselves to be but instruments in Christ's 
hands, the more shall we seek to fill our lives with all 
noble service ; the more shall we be able to adorn them 
with all beauty of growing likeness to Him who is 
their source. 

There is still another thing to be remembered, and 
that is, that if we are to have this progressive godliness 
we must put forth continuous effort right away to the 
very close. 

We come to no point in our lives when we can slack off 
in the earnestness of our endeavour to make more and 
more of Christ’s fulness our own. But to the very last 
moment of life there is a possibility of still larger 
victories, and the corresponding possibility of defeat. 
And, therefore, till the very last, effort, built upon 
_ faith and made joyous by love and strong by the grasp 
of His hand, must be the law for us. It is the man 
that ‘keeps His works’ and persistently strives to do 
them ‘to the’ very ‘end’ that ‘overcomes. And if he 
slacks one moment before the end he loses the blessing 
that he otherwise would have attained. 

‘Forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching 


222 REVELATION | CH, II. 


forth unto the things that are before,’ must be our 
motto till the last. We must ever have shining far 
before us the unattained heights which it may yet be 
possible for our feet to tread. We must never let habit 
stiffen us in any one attitude of obedience, nor past 
failures set a bound to our anticipations of what it is 
possible for us to become in the future. We must never 
compare ourselves with ourselves, or with one another. 
We must never allow low thoughts, and the poor 
average of Christian life, in our brethren, to come 
between us and that lofty vision of perfect likeness to 
Jesus Christ, which should burn before us all as no 
vain dream, but as the will of God in Christ Jesus 
concerning us. 

And if, smitten by its beauty, and drawn by its 
power, and daily honestly submitting ourselves to the 
accumulating influences of Christ’s long experienced 
love, and enlisting habit upon the side of godliness, 
and weakening opposition and antagonism by long 
discipline and careful pruning, ‘we press toward the 
mark for the prize of the higher calling of God in 
Jesus Ckrist,’ we shall be like the wise householder that 
keeps the best wine until the last, 


‘And in old age, when others fade, 
We fruit still forth shall bring.’ 


And then death itself will but continue the process that 
has blessed and ennobled life, and will lead us up into 
another state, whereof ‘the latest works shall be more — 
than the first.’ 





IV.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-POWER 


‘He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him willl give 

power over the nations: 27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the 
vesselsof a potter shall they be broken toshivers: even as I received of My Father. 
28. And I will give him the morning star.’—REv. ii. 26-23. 
THIS promise to the victors in Thyatira differs from 
the preceding ones in several remarkable respects. 
If you will observe, the summons to give ear to ‘what 
the Spirit saith to the churches’ precedes the promises 
in the previous letters; here it follows that promise, 
and that order is observed in the three subsequent 
epistles. Now the structure of all these letters is too 
careful and artistic to allow of the supposition that the 
change is arbitrary or accidental. There must be some 
significance in it, but I do not profess to be ready with 
the explanation, and I prefer acknowledging perplexity 
to pretending enlightenment. 

Then there is another remarkable peculiarity of 
this letter, viz., the expansion which is given to the 
designation of the victor as ‘He that overcometh and 
keepeth My works unto the end.’ Probably not un- 
connected with that expansion is the other peculiarity 
of the promise here, as compared with its precursors, 
viz., that they all regard simply the individual victor 
and promise to him ‘partaking of the tree of life’; a 
‘crown of life’; immunity from ‘the second death’; 
‘the hidden manna’; the ‘white stone’; and the ‘new 
name written’; which, like all the rest of the promises 
there, belonged to Himself alone; but here the field 
is widened, and we have others brought in on whom 
the victor is to exercise an influence. So, then, we 
enter upon a new phase of conceptions of that future life 


in these words, which not only dwell upon the susten- 
eae 





204 REVELATION tomes 


ance, the repose, the glory that belong to the man 
himself, but look upon him as still an instrument 
in Christ’s hands, and an organ for earrying out, by 
His activities, Christ’s purposes in the world. So, then, 
I want you to look with me very simply at the ideas 
suggested by these words. 

I. We have the victor’s authority. 

Now the promise in my text is moulded by a remem- 
brance of the great words of the second psalm. That 
psalm stands at the beginning of the Psalter as a kind 
of prelude; and in conjunction with its companion | 
psalm, the first, is a summing up of the two great 
factors in the religious life of the Hebrews, viz., the 
blessedness in the keeping of the law, and the bright- 
ness of the hope of the Messiah. The psalm in ques- 
tion deals with that Messianic hope under the symbols 
of an earthly conquering monarch, and sets forth 
His dominion as established throughout the whole 
earth. And our letter brings this marvellous thought, 
that the spirits of just men made perfect are, somehow 
or other, associated with Him in that campaign of — 
conquest. 

Now, there is much in these words which, of course, 
it is idle for us to attempt to expand or expound. We 
can only wait, as we gaze upon the dim brightness, for 
experience to unlock the mystery. But there is also 
much which, if we will reverently ponder it, may 
stimulate us to brave conflict and persistent diligence 
in keeping Christ’s commandments. I, for my part, 
believe that Scripture is the only source of such know- 
ledge as we have of the future life; and I believe, too, 
that the knowledge, such as it is, which we derive from 
Scripture is knowledge, and can be absolutely trusted. 
And so, though I abjure all attempts at rhetorical 


vs.26-28] THE VICTORS LIFE-POWER 225 


setting forth of the details of this mysterious symbol, 
I would lay it upon our hearts. It is not the less 
powerful because it is largely inconceivable; and the 
mystery, the darkness, the dimness, may be, and are 
part of the revelation and of the light. ‘There was the 
hiding of His power.’ 

And so, notice that whatever may be the specific 
contents of such a promise as this, the general form 
of it is in full harmony with the words of our Lord 
whilst He was on earth. Twice over, according to the 
gospel narratives—once in connection with Peter's 
foolish question, ‘What shall we have therefore?’ and 
once in a still more sacred connection, at the table on 
the eve of Calvary—our Lord gave His trembling dis- 
ciples this great promise: ‘In the regeneration, when 
the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye 
also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel.’ Make all allowance that you like for 
the vesture of symbolism, the reality that lies beneath 
is that Jesus Christ, the truth, has pledged Himself 
to this, that His servants shall be associated with Him 
in the activity of His royalty. And the same great 
thought, which we only spoil when we try to tear 
apart the petals which remain closed until the sun 
shall open them, underlies the twin parables of the 
pounds and the talents, in regard to each of which we 
have, ‘Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I 
will make thee ruler over many things’; and, linked 
along with the promise of authority, the assurance of 
union with the Master, ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy 
Lord.’ So this book of the Revelation is only following 
in the footsteps and expanding the hints of Christ's 
own teaching when it triumphsin the thought that we 
are made kings and priests to God; when it points 

P 


226 REVELATION [ou. 11. 


onwards to a future wherein—we know not how, but 
we know, if we believe Him when He speaks, that it 
shall be so—they shall reign with Him for ever and 


ever. 


My text adds further the image of aconquering cam- — 


paign, of a sceptre of iron crushing down antagonism, 
of banded opposition broken into shivers, ‘as a potter's 
vessel’ dashed upon a pavement of marble. And it 
says that in that final conflict and final conquest they 
that have passed into the rest of God,and have dwelt 
with Christ, shall be with Him, the armies of heaven 
following Him, clad in white raiment pure and glis- 
tening, and with Him subduing, ay! and converting 
into loyal love the antagonisms of earth. I abjure all 
attempts at millenarian prophecy, but I point to this, 
that all the New Testament teaching converges upon 
this one point, that the Christ who came to die shall 
eome again to reign, and that He shall reign, and His 
servants with Him. That is enough; and that is all 
For all the rest is conjecture and fancy and sometimes 
folly; and details minimise, and do not magnify, the 
great, undetailed, magnificent fact. 

But all the other promises deal not with something 
in the remoter future, but with something that begins 
to take effect the moment the dust, and confusion, 
and garments rolled in blood, of the battlefield are 
swept away. At one instant the victors are fighting, 
at the next they are partaking of the Tree of Life, and 
on their locks lies the crown, and their happy lips are 
feeding upon ‘the hidden manna.’ And so, I think, 
that though, no doubt, the main stress of the promise 
of authority here points onwards, as our Lord Himself 
has taught us, to the time of ‘the regeneration, when 
the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory,’ 


vs. 26-28] THE VICTOR'S LIFE-POWER 227 


the incidence of the promise is not to be exclusively 
confined thereto. There must be something in the 
present for the blessed dead, as well as for them in the 
future. And this is, that they are united with Jesus 
Christ in His present activities, and through Him, and 
in Him, and with Him, are even now serving Him. 
The servant, when he dies, and has been fitted for it, 
enters at once on his government of the ten cities. 

Thus this promise of my text, in its deepest meaning, 
corresponds with the deepest needs of a man’s nature. 
For we can never be at rest unless we are at work; and 
a heaven of doing nothing is a heaven of ennui and 
weariness. Whatever sneers may have been cast at 
the Christian conception of the future, which find 
vindication, one is sorry to say, in many popular 
representations and sickly bits of hymns, the New 
Testament notion of what that future life is to be is 
noble with all energy, and fruitful with all activity, 
and strenuous with all service. This promise of my 
text comes in tosupplement the three preceding. They 
were addressed to the legitimate, wearied longings for 
rest and fulness of satisfaction for oneself. This is 
addressed to the deeper and nobler longing for larger 
service. And the words of my text, whatever dim 
glory they may partially reveal, as accruing to the 
victor in the future, do declare that, when he passes 
beyond the grave, there will be waiting for him nobler 
work to do than any that he ever has done here. 

But let us not forget that all this access of power 
and enlargement of opportunity are a consequence of 
Christ's royalty and Christ's conquering rule. That is 
to say, whatever we have in the future we have 
because we are knit to Him, and all our service there, 
as all our blessedness here, flows from our union with 


) 


228 REVELATION (cH. m1. 


that Lord. So when He says, as in the words that I 
have already quoted, that His servants shall sit on 
thrones, He presents Himself as on the central throne. 
The authority of the steward over the ten cities is but 
a consequence of the servant’s entrance into the joy 
of the Lord. Whatever there lies in the heavens, the 
germ of it all is this, that we are as Christ, so closely 
identified with Him that we are like Him, and share 
in all His possessions. He says to each of us, ‘ All 
Mine is thine.’ He has taken part of our flesh and 
blood that we may share in His Spirit. The bride is 
endowed with the wealth of the bridegroom, and the 
crowns that are placed on the heads of the redeemed 
are the crown which Christ Himself has received as 
the reward of His Cross—‘ even as I have received of 
My Father.’ 

II. Note the victor’s starry splendour. 

The second symbol of my text is difficult of interpre- 
tation, like the first: ‘I will give him the morning 
star.’ Now, no doubt, throughout Scripture a star isa 
symbol of royal dominion; and many would propose 
so to interpret it in the present case. But it seems to 
me that whilst that explanation—which makes the 
second part of our promise simply identical with the 
former, though under a different garb—does justice to 
one part of the symbol, it entirely omits the other. 
For the emphasis is here laid on ‘morning’ rather 
than on ‘star. Itis‘the morning star,’ not any star 
that blazes in the heavens, that is set forth here as 
a symbolical representation of the victor’s condition. 
Then another false scent, as it were, on which interpre- 
tations have gone, seems to me to be that, taking into 
account the fact that in the last chapter of the Revela- 
tion our Lord is Himself described as ‘the bright and 


: 
: 


vs. 26-28] THE VICTOR'S LIFE-POWER 229 


morning star,’ they bring this promise down simply to 
mean, ‘I will give him Myself. Now though it is quite 
true that, in the deepest of all views, Jesus Christ Him- 
self is the gift as well as the giver of all these seven- 
fold promises, yet the propriety of representation seems 
to me to forbid that He should here say, ‘I will give 
them Myself!’ 

So I think we must fall back upon what any touch 
of poetic imagination would at once suggest to be the 
Meaning of the promise, that it is the dawning 
splendour of that planet of hope and morning, the 
harbinger of day, which we are to lay hold of. Hebrew 
prophets, long before, had spoken of Lucifer, ‘light- 
bringer,’ ‘the son of the morning.’ Many a poet sang 
of it before Milton with his 


‘Hesperus, that led the starry host, 
Rode brightest.’ 


So that I think we are just to lay hold of the thought 
that the starry splendour, the beauty and the lustre 
that will be poured upon the victor is that which is 
expressed by this symbol here. What that lustre will 
consist in it becomes us not to say. That future keeps 
its secret well, but that it shall be the perfecting of 
human nature up to the most exquisite and consum- 
mate height of which it is capable, and the enlarge- 
ment of it beyond all that human experience here 
can conceive, we may peaceably anticipate and quietly 
trust. 

Only, note the advance here on the previous promises 
is as conspicuous as in the former part of this great 
promise. There the Christian man’s influence and 
authority were set forth under the emblem of regal 
dominion. Here they are set forth under the emblem 


230 REVELATION (ox. 1. 


of lustrous splendour. It is the spectators that see the 
glory of the beam that comes from the star. And this 
promise, like the former, implies that in that future 
there will be a sphere in which perfected spirits may 
ray out their light, and where they may gladden and 
draw some eyes by their beams. I have no word to 
say as to the sky in which the rays of that star may 
shine, but I do feel that the very essence of this great 
representation is that Christian souls in the future, 
as in the present, will stand forth as the visible embodi- 
ments of the glory and lustre of the unseen God. 
Further, remember that this image, like the former, 
traces up the lustre, as that traced the royalty, to com- 
munion with Christ, and to impartation from Him. 
‘I will give him the morning star.’ We shall shine as 
the ‘brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for 
ever, as Daniel said—not by inherent but by reflected — 
light. We are not suns, but planets, that move round 
the Sun of Righteousness, and flash with His beauty. 
III. Lastly, mark the condition of the authority and 
of the lustre. : 
Here I would say a word about the remarkable 
expansion of the designation of the victor, to which I 
have already referred: ‘He that overcometh, and 
keepeth My works unto the end.’ We do not know 
why that expansion was put in, in reference to Thyatira — 
only, but if you will glance over the letter you will see 
that there is more than usual about works—works to 
be repented of, or works which make the material of a 
final retribution and judgment. 
Whatever may be the explanation of the expanded — 
designation here, the lesson that it reads to us is a 
very significant and a very important one. Bring the 
metaphor of a victor down to the plain, hard, prose fact 








vs. 26-28] THE VICTOR’S LIFE-POWER 231 


of doing Christ’s work right away to the end of life. 
Strip off the rhetoric of the fight, and it comes down 
to this—dogged, persistent obedience to Christ’s com- 
mandments. ‘He that keepeth My works’ does not 
appeal to the imagination as ‘He that overcometh’ 
does. But it is the explanation of the victory, and one 
that we all need to lay to heart. 

‘My works’: that means the works that He enjoins. 


No doubt; but look at a verse before my text: ‘I will 


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give unto every one of you according to your works.’ 
That is, the works that you do, and Christ’s works are 
not only those which He enjoins, but those of which He 
Himself set the pattern. He will ‘give according to 
works’; He will give authority; give the morning star. 
That is to say, the life which has been moulded accord- 
ing to Christ’s pattern, and shaped in obedience to 
Christ's commandments is the life which is capable of 
being granted participation in His dominion, and in- 
vested with reflected lustre. If here we do His work 
we shall be able to do it more fully yonder. ‘The 
works that I do shall he doalso.’ That is the law for 
life—ay, and it is the promise for heaven. ‘And greater 
works than these shall he do, because I go to My 
Father.’ When we have come to partial conformity 
with Him here we may hope—and only then have we 


_ the right to hope—for entire assimilation to Him here- 
_ after. If here, from this dim spot which men call earth, 
_ and amid the confusion and dust and distances of this 
| present life, we look to Him, and with unveiled faces 


behold Him, and here, in degree and part, are being 
changed from glory to glory, there He will turn His 
face upon us, and, beholding it, in righteousness, ‘ we 
shall be satisfied when we awake with His likeness.’ 
Brethren, it is for us to choose whether we shall share 





























232 REVELATION (cu. mm. 


in Christ’s dominion or be crushed by His iron sceptre. 
It is for us to choose whether, moulding our lives after . 
His will and pattern, we shall hereafter be made like 
Him in completeness. It is for us to choose whether, 
seeing Him here, we shall, when the brightness of His 
coming draws near, be flooded with gladness, or 
whether we shall call upon the rocks and the hills to 
cover us from the face of Him that sitteth on the 
Throne. Time is the mother of Eternity. To-day 
moulds to-morrow, and when all the to-days and 
to-morrows have become yesterdays, they will have 
determined our destiny, because they will have settled 
our characters. Let us keep Christ’s commandments, 
and we shall be invested with dignity and illuminated 
with glory, and entrusted to work, far beyond anything 
that we can conceive here, though, in their farthest reach 
and most dazzling brightness, these are but the con- 
tinuation and the perfecting and the feeble beginnings 
of earthly conflict and service. 


THE LORD OF THE SPIRITS AND THE STARS 


*, .. These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven 
stars.'—REv. iii. 1. 


THE titles by which our Lord speaks of Himself in the 
letters to the seven churches are chosen to correspond 
with the spiritual condition of the community ad- 
dressed. The correspondence can usually be observ 
without difficulty, and in this case is very obviou 
The church in Sardis, to which Christ is presen 
under this aspect as the possessor of ‘ the seven Spirits 
of God and the seven stars,’ had no heresies needin 
correction. It had not life enough to produce ev 
such morbid secretions, Neither weeds nor flowe 


v.1) LORD OF SPIRITS AND STARS 2388 


grow in winter. There may be a lower depth than the 
condition of things when people are all thinking, and 
some of them thinking wrongly, about Christian truth. 
Better the heresies of Ephesus and Thyatira than the 
acquiescent deadness of Sardis. 

It had no immoralities. The gross corruptions of 
some in Pergamum had no parallelthere. Philadelphia 
had none, for it kept close to its Lord, and Sardis is 
rebuked for none, because its evil was deeper and 
sadder. It was not flagrantly corrupt, it was only— 
dead. 

Of course it had no persecutions. Faithful Smyrna 
had tribulation unto death, hanging like a thunder- 
cloud overhead, and Philadelphia, beloved of the Lord, 
was drawing near its hour of trial. But Sardis had 
not life enough to be obnoxious. Why should the 
world trouble itself about a dead church? It exactly 
answers the world’s purpose, and is really only a bit 
of the world under another name. 

To such a church comes flaming in upon its stolid 
indifference this solemn and yet glad vision of the Lord 
of the ‘seven Spirits of God,’ and of ‘the seven stars.’ 

I. Let us think of the condition of the church which 
especially needs this vision. 

It is all summed up in that judgment, pronounced 
by Him who ‘knows its works’: ‘Thou hast a name 
that thou livest, and art dead.’ No works either good 
or bad are enumerated, though there were some, which 
He gathers together in one condemnation, as ‘not 
perfect before God.’ 

We are not to take that word ‘dead’ in the fullest 
sense of which it is capable, as we shall see presently. 
But let us remember how, when on earth, the Lord, 
whose deep words on that matter we owe mainly to 


234 REVELATION (cH. mm. 


John, taught that all men were either living, because 
they had been made alive by Him, or dead—how He 
said, ‘Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of 
the Son of man, ye have no life in you,’ and how one 
of the main ideas of John’s whole teaching is, ‘He that 
hath the Son hath life.’ This remembrance will help 
us to give the words their true meaning. Death is the 
condition of those who are separated from Him, and 
not receiving from Him the better life into their spirits 
by communion and faith. 

Into this condition the church in Sardis had fallen. 
People and bishop had lost their hold on Him. Their 
hearts beat with no vigorous love to Him, but only 
feebly throbbed with a pulsation which even His hand 
laid on their bosoms could scarcely detect. Their 
thoughts had no clear apprehension of Him or of His 
love. Their communion with Him had ceased. Their 
lives had no radiant beauty of self-sacrifice for Christ's 
sake. Their Christianity was dying out. . 

But this death was not entire, as is seen from the 
fact that in the next verse ‘ready to die’ is the ex- 
pression applied to some among them, or perhaps to 
some lingering works which still survived. They were 
at the point of death, moribund, with much of their 
spiritual life extinct, but here and there a spark among 
the ashes, which His eye saw, and His breath could 
fan into a flame. Some works still survived, though 
not ‘perfect,’ shrunken and sickly like the blanched 
shoots of a plant feebly growing in a dark cellar. 

In some animals of low organisation you may see 
muscular movements after lifeis extinct. Sochurches | 
and individual Christians may keep on performing 
Christian work for a time after the true impulse that 
should produce it has ceased. A train will runforsome — 


f 





= 


v.1] LORD OF SPIRITS AND STARS) 235 


distance after the steam has been shut off. Institu- 
tions last after the life is out of them, for use and 
wont keeps up a routine of action, though the true 
motive is dead, and men may go on for long, nominal 
adherents of a cause to which they are bound by no 
living conviction. How much of your Christian activity 
is the manifestation of life, and how much of it is the 
ghastly twitchings of a corpse under galvanism ? 

This death was unseen but by the flame-eyed Christ. 
These people in Sardis had ‘a name to live.’ They had 
a high reputation among the Asiatic churches for 
vigorous Christian character. And they themselves, 
no doubt, would be very much astonished at the sledge- 
hammer blow of this judgment of their state. One 
ean fancy them saying—‘ We dead! Do not we stand 
high among our brethren, have we not this and the 
other Christian work among us? Have we not pro- 
phesied in Thy name?’ Yes, and the surest sign of 
spiritual death is unconsciousness. Paralysis is not 
felt. Mortification is painless. Frost-bitten limbs are 
insensitive. They only tingle when life is coming back 
to them. When a man says I am asleep, he is more 
than half awake. 

One characteristic of their death is that they have 
forgotten what they were in better and happier times, 
and therefore need the exhortation, ‘Remember how 
thou hast received and didst hear.’ They have fallen 
so far that the height on which they once stood is out 
of their sight, and they are content to lie on the muddy 
fiat at its base. No stings from conscious decline dis- 
turb them. They are too far gone for that. The 
same round of formal Christian service which marked 
their decline from their brethren hid it from themselves. 

That is a solemn fact worth making very clear to 


¢ 


286 REVELATION (on. 1. 


ourselves, that the profoundest spiritual decline may 
be going on in us, and we be all unconscious of it. 
‘Samson wist not that his strength was departed from 
him,’ and in utter ignorance he tried to perform his 
old feats, only to find his weakness. So the life of our 
spirits may have ebbed away, and we know not how 
much blood we have lost until we try to raise ourselves 
and sink back fainting. Like some rare essence in a 
partially closed vessel, put away in some drawer, we 
go to take it out and find nothing but a faint odour, 
a rotten cork, and an empty phial. The sure way to 
lose the precious elixir of a Christian life is to shut 
it up in our hearts. No life is maintained without 
food, air, and exercise. We must live on the 
bread of God which came down from heaven, and 
breathe the breath of His life-giving Spirit, and use 
all our power for Him, or else, for all our name to live, 
and our shrunken, feeble imitations of the motions of 
life, the eyes which are as a flame of fire will see the 
sad reality, and the lips into which grace is poured 
will have to speak over us the one grim word—dead. 

II. Notice now the thought of Christ presented to 
such achurch. ‘ He that hath the seven Spirits of God 
and the seven stars.’ 

The greater part of the attributes with which our 
Lord speaks of Himself in the beginnings of the seven 
letters to the churches are drawn from the features of 
the majestic vision of the Christ in the first chapter of 
this book. But nothing there corresponds to the first 
clause of this description, and so far this designation 
is singular. There are, however, three other places in 
the Apocalypse which throw much light on it, and to 
these we may turn for a moment. In the aposiolic 
salutation at the beginning of the book (i. 4) John in- 


v.1}) LORD OF SPIRITS AND STARS 237 


vokes mercy and grace on the Asiatic churches from 
the Eternal Father, ‘and from the seven Spirits which 
are before the throne,’ and from Christ, the faithful 
witness. In the grand vision of heavenly realities 
(ch. iv.) the seer beholds burning before the throne 
seven lamps of fire, ‘which are the seven Spirits of 
God,’ and when, in the later portion of the same, he 
beholds the conquering Lamb, who looses the seals of 
the book of the world’s history, he sees Him having 
‘seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God, sent 
forth into all the earth,’ an echo of old words of the 
same prophet who had been John’s precursor in the 
symbolic use of the ‘candlestick,’ as representing the 
Church, and who speaks of ‘ the seven eyes of the Lord 
which run to and fro throughout the whole earth’ 
(Zech. iv. 10). 

Clearly in all these passages we have the same idea 
presented of the Holy Spirit of God in the completeness 
and manifoldness of its sevenfold energies, conceived 
of as possessed and bestowed by the Lamb of God, the 
Lord of all the churches. The use of the plural and 
the number seven is remarkable, but quite explicable, 
on the ground of the sacred number expressing per- 
fection, and not inconsistent with personal unity, 
underlying the variety of manifestations. The per- 
sonality of the Spirit is sufficiently set forth by that 
refrain in each epistle, ‘Let him hear what the Spirit 
saith to the churches.’ The divinity of the Spirit is 
plainly involved in the triple benediction at the begin- 
ning of the letter, and by the sacred place in which 
there the Spirit isinvoked, midmost between the Father 
and the Son. The seven lamps before the throne speak 
of the flaming perfection of that Spirit of burning 
conceived of as ‘immanent’ in the Divine nature. The 


238 REVELATION (CH. 11. 


seven eyes sent forth into all the earth speak of the 
perfectness of the energies of that same Spirit, con- 
ceived of as flashing and gleaming through all the 
world. And the great words of our text agree with 
that vision of these seven as being the eyes of the 
Lamb slain, in telling us that that fiery Spirit is poured 
out on men by the Lord, who had to die before He 
could cast fire on earth. 

This is the thought which a dead or decaying church 
needs most. There is a Spirit which gives life, and 
Christ is the Lord of that Spirit. The whole fulness 
of the Divine energies is gathered in the Holy Spirit, 
and this is His chiefest work—to breathe into our 
deadness the breath of life. Many other blessed offices 
are His, and many other names belong to Him. He is 
‘the Spirit of adoption,’ He is ‘ the Spirit of Supplica- 
tion,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Holiness,’ He is ‘ the Spirit of 
Wisdom, He is ‘the Spirit of Power and of Love and 
of a sound mind,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Counsel and 
Might’; but highest of all is the name which expresses 
His mightiest work, ‘the Spirit of Life.’ The flaming 
lamps tell of His flashing brightness; the seven eyes 
of His watchful Omniscience, and other symbols witness 
the various sides of His gracious activity on men’s 


hearts. The anointing oil was consecrated from gold — 


to express His work of causing men’s whole powers to 
move sweetly and without friction in the service of 
God, and of feeding the flame of devotion in the heart. 
The ‘water’ spoke of cleansing efficacy, as ‘fire’ of 
melting, transforming, purifying power. But the 
‘rushing mighty wind, blowing where it listeth, un- 


sustained, and free, visible only in its effects, and yet — 


heard by every ear that is not deaf, sometimes soft and 
low, as the respiration of a sleeping child, sometimes 


a ee 


v1] LORD OF SPIRITS AND STARS 239 


loud and strong as the storm, is His best emblem. The 
very name ‘the Spirit’ emphasises that aspect of His 
work in which He is conceived of as the source of life. 
This is the thought of His working which comes with 
most glad yet solemn meaning to Christian people 
who feel how low their life has sunk. This is the true 
antidote to the deadness, so real and common among 
all communions now, however it is skimmed over and 
hidden by a kind of film of activity. 

Christ has this sevenfold Spirit. That means first that 
the same peaceful dove which floated down from the 
open heavens on His meek head, just raised from the 
baptismal stream, fills now and for ever His whole 
humanity with its perfect energies. ‘God giveth not 
the Spirit by measure unto kim. How marvellous 
that there is a manhood to which the whole fulness of 
the Spirit of God can be imparted, an ‘earthen vessel,’ 
capacious enough to hold this ‘treasure’! How mar- 
vellous that there is a Son of man, who is likewise Son 
of God, and has the Spirit, not only for His own human 
perfecting, but to shed it forth on all who love Him! 
It is the slain Lamb, who has the seven Spirits of God. 
That is to say, it was impossible that the fulness of 
spiritual influence could be poured out quickening on 
men until Christ had died, and by His death He has 
become the dispenser to the world of the principle of 
life. In His hands is the gift. He is the Lord of the 
Spirit, ascended up to give to men according to the 
measure of their capacity, of that Spirit which He has 
received, until we all come to the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ. How unlike therelation 
of other teachers to their disciples! Their spirit is the 
very thing they cannot give. They can impart teach- 
ing, they can givea method and principles, and a certain 


240 REVELATION (cH. m1. 


direction to the mind. They can train imitators. But 
they are like Elijah, knowing not if their spirit will 
rest on their successors, and sure that, if it do, it has 
not been their gift. The departing prophet had to say 
to the petition for an elder son’s legacy of his spirit, 
‘Thou hast asked a hard thing,’ but Christ ascending 
let that gift fall from His uplifted hands of blessing, 
and the dove that abode on Him fluttered downwards 
from the hiding cloud, to rest on the Apostles’ heads, 
as they steadfastly gazed up into heaven. Therefore 
they went back to Jerusalem with joy, even before the 
fuller gift of Pentecost. 

Pentecost was but a transitory sign of a perpetual 
gift. The rushing wind died into calm, and the flicker- 
ing tongues of fire had faded before the spectators 
reached the place. Nor did the miracle of utterance 
last either. But whilst all that is past, the substance 
remains. The fire of Pentecost has not died down into 
chilly embers, nor have the ‘rivers of living water, 
promised by the lips of incarnate truth, been swallowed 
up in the sands or failed at their source. He is per- 
petually bestowing the Spirit of God upon His Church. 
We are only too apt to forget the present activity of 
our ascended Lord. We think of His mighty work as 
‘finished’ on the Cross, and do not conceive clearly and 
strongly enough His continuous work which is being 
done, now and ever, on the throne. That work is not 
only His priestly intercession and representation of us 
in heaven, but is also His working on earth in the 
bestowal on all His followers of that Divine Spirit to 
be the life of their lives and the fountain of all their 
holiness, wisdom, strength, and joy. For ever is He 
near us, ready to quicken and to bless. He will breathe 
in silent ways grace and power into us, and when life 


v1] LORD OF SPIRITS AND STARS 241 


is low, He will pour a fuller tide into our veins. He 
knows all our deadness and He can cure it all. He is 
Himself the life, and He is the Lord and giver of life, 
because the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all 
the earth are the seven eyes of the slain Lamb. 

One great channel through which spiritual life is 
imparted to a dying church is suggested by the other 
part of the description of our Lord here as having ‘the 
seven stars.’ The ‘stars’ are the ‘angels of the 
churches, by whom we are probably to understand 
their bishops and pastors. If so, then we have a strik- 
ing thought, symbolised by the juxtaposition. Christ, 
as it were, holds in the one hand the empty vessels, 
and in the other the brimming cup, from which He 
will pour out the supply for their emptiness. 

The lesson taught us is, that in a dead church the 
teachers mostly partake of the deadness, and are re- 
sponsible for it. But, further, we learn that Christ’s 
way of reviving a decaying and all but effete church 
is oftenest by filling single men full of His Spirit, and 
then sending them out to kindle a soul under the ribs 
of death. So Luther brought back life to the churches 
in his day. So the Wesleys brought about the great 
evangelical revival of last century. So let us pray 
that it may be again in our day when another century 
is drawing near its end, and the love of many has 
grown cold. 

If we regard the ‘angels’ as being but ideal repre- 
sentatives of the churches themselves, then we may 
gather from the juxtaposition of the two clauses a 
lesson which is ever true. In Christ’s one hand is the 
perfect supply for all our need, wisdom for our blind- 
ness, might to clothe our weakness, righteousness for 
our sin, life to flood our droopingsouls. In Christ's 

Q 


242 REVELATION [ox. m2, 


other hand He holds usall, and surely He will not leave 
us empty while we are within His arm’s length of such 
fulness. Let us look to Him alone for all we need, and 
rejoice to know that we, held in His grasp, are near 
His heart, the home of infinite love, and near His hand, 
the source of infinite supply of strength and grace. 

III. Consider, now, the practical uses of these 
thoughts. 

That vision should shame us into penitent conscious- 
ness of our own deadness. When we contrast the little 
life we possess with the abundance waiting to be 
given, like the poor scanty supply in some choked mill- 
stream compared with the full-flashing store in the’ 
brimming river, we may well be stricken with shame: 
So much offered and so little possessed; such fiery 
energy of love possible, and poor tepid feeling, actual! 
Such a mighty breath of God blowing all about us, and 
we lying as if enchanted and becalmed, with scarce 
wind enough to keep our idle sails from flapping. 
There in Jesus Christ is the measure of what we might 
possess, and the pattern of what we should possess— 
does it not bow us in penitence, because of what we do 
possess ? | 

But while ashamed and penitent, we should be kept : 
by that vision from despondent thoughts, as if the 
future could never be different from the past. It is not 
good to think too much of our failure and emptiness, 


lest penitence darken into despair, and shame cut the 
sinews of our souls and unfit them for all brave en- 
deavour. Let us think of Christ’s fulness and hope, as 
well as repent. 

Let it stir us too to seek for the reason why we have 
not more of Christ’s life. What is the film which pre- 
vents the light from reaching our eyes? I remember 


v. 1] WALKING IN WHITE 243 


once seeing by a roadside a stone trough for cattle to 
drink from empty, because the pipe from which it was 
fed was stopped by a great plug of ice. That is the 
reason why many of our hearts are so empty of Christ’s 
Spirit. We have plugged the channel with a mass of 
ice. Close communion with Jesus Christ is the only 
means of possessing His Spirit. With penitence let us 
go back to Him, and let us hold fast by His hand. If 
we listen to Him, trust Him, keep our minds and 
hearts attent on Him, He will breathe on us as of old, 
and as we hear Him say, ‘ Receive ye the Holy Ghost,’ 
a diviner life will pass into our veins, and the law of 
the Spirit of life in Christ will make us free from the 
law of sin and death. 


WALKING IN WHITE 


“Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; 
and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.’—REv. iii. 4. 
THE fond fancy that the primitive Church was a 
better Church than to-day’s is utterly blown to pieces 
by the facts that are obvious in Scripture. Here, in 
the Apostolic time, under the very eye of the fervent 
Apostle of Love, and so recently after the establish- 
ment of Christianity on the seaboard of Asia, was a 
church, a young church, with all the faults of a decrepit 
old one, and in which Jesus Christ Himself could find 
nothing to commend, and about which He could only 
say that it had a name to live and was dead. The 
church at Sardis suffered no persecution. It was 
much too like the world to be worth the trouble of 
persecuting. It had no heresy; it did not care enough 
about religion to breed heresies. It was simply utterly 


244 REVELATION [cH. ol 
apathetic and dead. And yet there was a salt in it, or. 
it would have been rotten as well as dead. There were 
‘a few names, even in Sardis,’ which, in the midst of 
all the filth, had kept their skirts white. They had 
‘not defiled their garments, and so with beautiful 
congruity the promise is given to them—‘they shall - 
walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.’ The 
promise, I said. It would have been wiser to have said 
the promises, for there are a great many wrapped up in > 
germ in these quiet, simple words. Nearly all that we 
know, and all that we need to know, about that 
mysterious future is contained in them. So my por-j 
pose now is, with perfectly inartificial simplicity, just" 
to take these words and weigh them as a jeweller 
might weigh in his scales stones which are very small 
but very precious. 

I. We have here, then, the promise of continuous 
and progressive activity—‘ they shall walk.’ . 

In Scripture we continually find that metaphor of 
the ‘ walk’ as equivalent to an outward life of action. 
To make that idea prominent in our conceptions of the 
future is a great gain, for it teaches us at once how 
imperfect and one-sided are the thoughts about it which 
come with such fascination to most of us wearied men. 
Itis a wonderful, unconscious confession of the troubled, 
toilsome, restless lives which most of us live, that the 
sweetest and most frequently recurring thought about 
the great future is, ‘There remaineth a rest for the 
people of God’; where the wearied muscles may be 
relaxed, and the tortured hearts may be quiet. But 
whilst we must not say one word to break or even to 
diminish the depth and sweetness of that aspect of the 
Christian hope, neither must we forget that it is only 
one phase of the complete whole, and that this promise 


v. 4] WALKING IN WHITE 245 


of the text has to be taken with it. ‘They shall walk,’ 
in all the energies of a constant activity, far more 
intense than it was at its highest here, and yet never, 
by one hair’s breadth, trenching upon the serenity and 
indisturbance of that perpetual repose. We have to 
put together the two ideas, which to all our experience 
are antagonistic, but which yet are not really so, but 
only complementary, as the two halves of a sphere 
may be, in order to get the complete round. We have 
to say, with this very book of the Apocalypse, which 
goes so deep into the secrets of heaven, ‘His servants 
serve Him and see His face’—uniting together in one 
harmonious whole the apparent and, as far as earth’s 
experience goes, the real opposites of continual con- 
templation and continual activity of service. It is so 
hard for us in this life to find out practically for our- 
selves how much to give to each of these, that it is 
blessed to know that there comes a time for all of us, 
if we will, when that difficulty will solve itself, and 
Mary and Martha shall be one person, continually serv- 
ing and yet continually sitting, no more troubled about 
many things, in the quiet of the Master’s presence. 
‘They shall walk,’ harmonising work and rest, contem- 
plation and service. 

And then there is the other thought, too, involved in 
that pregnant word, of continuous advancement, grow- 
ing every moment, through the dateless cycles, nearer 
and nearer to the true centre of our souls, and up into 
the loftiness of perfection. We do not know what 
ministries of love and service may wait for Christ's 
servants yonder, but of this we can be quite sure, that 
all the faculties for service which we see crippled and 
limited by the hindrances of earth will find in the 
future a worthier sphere. Do you think it likely that 























246 REVELATION [ou. tI. 


God should so waste His wealth as to take men and 
redeem them and sanctify them, and prepare them by 
careful discipline and strengthen their powers by work, 
and then, just when they are out of their apprentice- 
ship and ready for larger service, should condemn them 
to idleness? Isthat like Him? Must it not rather be 
that there is a wider field for the faculties that were 
trained here; and that, whatsoever there may be in 
eternity, there will be no idleness there? 

II. Still further, here is the further promise of com- 
panionship with Christ. ‘They shall walk with Me. 

‘How can two walk together except they be agreed ? 
If there be this promised union, it can only be because 
of the completeness of sympathy and the likeness of 
character between Christ and His companions. The 
unity between Christ and His followers in the heavens 
is but the carrying into perfectness of the imperfect 
union that makes all the real blessedness of life here 
upon earth. 

‘With Me” Why! that union with Christ is all we 
know about heaven. All the rest is imagery, that is 
reality. All the rest is material symbol, that is what it 
all means. 

In the sweet, calm words of Richard Baxter's simple, 
but deep song— 

‘My knowledge of that life is small, 
The eye of faith is dim ; 
But ’tis enough that Christ knows all, 

And I shall be with Him.’ 
We ask ourselves and one another, and God’s Word, 
great many questions about that unseen life; an d 
sometimes it seems to us as if it would have been so 
much easier for us to bear the burdens that are laid 
upon us if some of these questions could have been 


v. 4] WALKING IN WHITE 247 


answered. But we do not really need to know more 
than that we shall be ‘ever with the Lord.’ Two, who 
are ever with Him, cannot be far from one another. 
So we may thankfully feel that the union of all is 
guaranteed by the union of each with Him. And for 
the rest we can wait. 

Only remember that to walk with Him implies that 
those who were but little children here have grown up 
to maturity. We try to tread in His footsteps here, 
but at the best we follow Him with tottering feet and 
short steps, as children trying to keep up with an elder 
brother. But there we shall keep step and walk in 
His company, side by side. For earth the law is, 
‘leaving us an example that we should follow His 
steps. For heaven the law is ‘they shall walk with 
Me’; or, as the other promise of this book has it, ‘they 
shall follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.’ No 
heights are so high to which He rises but He will 
make our feet like hind’s feet to tread upon the high 
places; no glories so great but we shall share them. 
Nothing in His divine nature shall part Him from us, 
but we shall be ever with Him. Let us comfort one 
another with these words. 

Ill. Further, my text speaks a promise of the perfec- 
tion of purity. ‘They shall walk with Me in white.’ 

The white garment, of course, is a plain metaphor 
for unsullied purity of moral character. And it is 
worth notice that the word employed by the Apocalyp- 
tic seer here for white, as indeed is the case throughout 
the manifold references to that heavenly colour which 
abound in this book, implies no dead ghastly white, 
but a flashing glistering whiteness, as of sunshine 
_ upon snow, which, I suppose, is the whitest thing that 
human eyes can look upon undazzled. So of the same 


248 REVELATION [ox. mm. 


radiant tint as the great White Throne on which He 
sits shall be the vestures of those that follow Him. 
The white robe is the conqueror’s robe, the white robe 
is the priest’s robe, the white robe is the copy of His 
who stood in that solitary spot on Mount Hermon, just 
below its snowy summit, with garments ‘so as no 
fuller on earth could white them’; white as the driven 
and sunlit snow that sparkled above. Perhaps we 
are to think of a glorified body as being the white 
garment. Perhaps it may be rather that the image 
expresses simply the conception of entire moral purity, 
but in either case it means the loftiest manifestation 
of the most perfect Christlike beauty as granted to all 
His followers. : 

IV. And so, lastly, note the condition of all these 
promises. 

‘Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have 
not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with 
Me in white: for they are worthy. The only thing 
that makes it possible for any man to have that future 
life of active communion with Jesus Christ, in perfect 
beauty of inward character and of outward form, is 
that here he shall by faith keep himself ‘unspotted, 
from the world.’ There is a congruity and proportion 
between the earthly life and the future life. Heaven 
is but the life of earth prolonged and perfected by the 
dropping away of all the evil, the strengthening and 
lifting to completeness of all the good. And the only 
thing that fits a man for the white robe of glory i 
purity of character down here on earth. 

There is nothing said here directly about the mea 
by which that purity can be attained or maintaine 
That is sufficiently taught us in other places, but wha 
in this saying Christ insists upon is that, however it is 








v. 4] WALKING IN WHITE 249 


got, it must be got, and that there is no life of blessed- 
ness, of holiness and glory, beyond the grave, except 
for those for whom there is the life of aspiration after, 
and in some real measure possession of, moral purity 
and righteousness and goodness here upon earth. 
Do not be surprised at that word—‘ They are worthy.’ 
It isan evangelical word. It declares the perfect con- 
gruity between the life on earth and the issue and 
reward of the life in heaven. And it holds up to us 
the great principle that purity here is crowned with 
glory hereafter. If the white garments could be put 
upon a black soul they would be like the poisoned 
shirt on the demigod in the Greek legend, they would 
bite into the flesh, and burn and madden. But it is 
impossible, and for ever and ever it remains true that 
only those who have kept their garments undefiled 
here shall ‘walk in white.’ It does not need absolute 
cleanness from all spot, God be thanked! But it does 
need, first, that we shall have ‘washed our robes and 
made them white’ in the ‘blood of the Lamb.’ And 
then that we shall keep them white, by continual 
recourse to the blood that cleanses from all sin, and by 
continual effort after purity like His own and received 
from Him. They who come back as prodigals in rags, 
and have their filthy tatters exchanged for the clean 
garment of Christ’s righteousness, with which by faith 
they are invested, and who then take heed to follow 
Him, with loins girt and robes kept undefiled, and ever 
washed anew in His cleansing blood, shall be of the 
heavenly companions of the glorified Christ, joined to 
| Him in all His dominion, and clothed in flashing white- 
_ ness like the body of His glory. 


V.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-ROBE 


“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I 
not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name befo 
My Father, and before His angels.’—Rkrv. iii. & 







THE brightest examples of earnest Christianity are 
generally found amidst widespread indifference. 
a man does not yield to the prevailing tone, it is likely 
to quicken him into strong opposition. So it wasi 
this Church of Sardis. It was dead. That was the 
summing up of its condition. It had a name to live 
and the name only made the real deadness more com 
plete. But there were exceptions: souls ablaze with 
Divine love, who in the midst of corruption had kep 
their robes clean, and whom Christ's own voice declared 
to be worthy to walk with Him in white. 

That great eulogium, which immediately precede 
our text, is referred to in the first of its triple promises 
as is even more distinctly seen if we read our text as 
the Revised Version does: ‘He that overcometh, the 
same shall thus be clothed in white raiment’; the 
‘thus’ pointing back to the preceding words, ané 
widening the promise to the faithful few in Sardis s 
as to extend to all victors in all Churches throughout 
all time. 

Now the remaining two clauses of our text also seem 
to be coloured by the preceding parts of this lette 
We read in it, ‘Thou hast a name that thou livest’; 
and again, ‘Thou hast a few names even in Sardis” 
which have not defiled their garments. Our text 
catches up the word, and moulds its promises accord- - 
ingly. One is more negative, the other more positive; 
both link on to a whole series of Scriptural represen 


tations. 
60 























a 


v.5] V.—THE VICTOR’S LIFE-ROBE 251 


Now all these declarations of the blessedness of the 
victors are, of course, intensely symbolical, and we can 
but partially translate them. I simply seek now to 
take them as they stand, and to try to grasp at least 
some part of the dim but certain hopes which they 
partly reveal and partly hide. There are, then, three 
things here. 

I. The victor’s robes. 

‘He that overcometh, the same shall (thus) be 
clothed in white raiment.’ White, of course, is the 
festal colour. But it is more than that: it is the 
heavenly colour. In this book we read of white thrones, 
white horses, hairs ‘white as snow, white stones. 
But we are to notice that the word here employed does 
not merely mean a dead whiteness, which is the absence 
of colour, but a lustrous and glistering white, like that 
of snow smitten by sunshine, or like that which dazzled 
the eyes of the three on the Mount of Transfiguration, 
when they saw the robes of the glorified Christ 
‘whitened as no fuller on earth could white them.’ So 
that we are to associate with this metaphor, not only 
the thoughts of purity, festal joy, victory, but likewise 
the thought of lustrous glory. 

Then the question arises, can we translate that 
metaphor of the robe into anything that will come 
closer to the fact? Now I may remind you that this 
figure runs through the whole of Scripture. We find, 
for instance, in one of the old prophets, a vision in 
which the taking away of Israel’s sin is represented by 
the high priest, the embodiment of the nation, stand- 
ing in filthy garments, which were stripped off him 
and fair ones put on him. We find our Lord giving 
forth a parable of a man who came to the feast not 
having on a wedding garment. We find the Apostle 


252 REVELATION (cH. 





























Paul speaking frequently, in a similar metaphor, 
putting off an ancient nature and putting on a new 
one. We find in this book, not only the references in 
my text and the context, but the great saying concern- 
ing those that have ‘washed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb,’ and the final 
benediction pronounced upon those who washed their 
robes, that they may ‘have a right to enter through 
the gate into the city.’ 

Putting all these things together—and the catalogu 
might be extended—we have to observe that the signi- 
fication of this symbol is not that of something wholly 
external to or apart from the man, but that itis rather 
that part of his nature, so to speak, which is visible to 
beholders, and we may translate it very simply—the 
robe is character. So the promise of my text, brought 
down so far as we can bring it to its primary element, 
is of a purity and lustrous glory of personal character, 
which shall be visible to any eye that may look upon 
the wearer. What more there may be found in it when 
we are ‘clothed upon with our house which is from 
heaven,’ if so be that ‘being clothed we shall not be 
found naked,’ I do not presume tosay. I do not specu- 
late, I simply translate the plain words of Scripture 
into the truth which they represent. 

But now I would have you notice that this, like all 
the promises of the New Testament in regard toa future 
life, lays main stress on what aman is. Not where w 
are, not what we have, not what we do or know, mak 
heaven, but what we are. The promises are clothed fo 
us, as they must needs be, in sensuous images, whi 
sensuous men have interpreted in far too low a sense 
or sometimes have not been even at the trouble 
interpreting. But in reality there are but two fac 


v.5) V.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-ROBE 253 


that we know about that future, and they are smelted 
together, as cause and effect, in the great saying of the 
most spiritual of the Apostles: ‘ We shall be like Him’ 
—that is what we shall be—‘for we shall see Him as 
He is. So, then, purity of character, when all the 
stains on the garments, spotted by the flesh, shall have 
melted away; purity of character, when temptations 
shall have no more food in us and so conflict shall not 
be needful; purity like Christ’s own, and derived from 
the vision of Him, according to the great law that 
beholding is transformation, and the light we see is 
the light which we reflect—this is the heart of this 
great promise. 

But notice that the main thing about it is that this 
lustrous purity of a perfected character is declared to 
be the direct outcome of the character, that was made 
by effort and struggle carried on in faith here upon 
earth. In this clause the familiar ‘I will give’ does 
not appear ; and the thought of the condition upon earth 
working itself out into the glory of lustrous purity in 
the heavens is made even more emphatic by the adoption 
of the reading to which I have referred: ‘Shall thus be 
clothed,’ which points us backwards to what preceded, 
where our Lord’s own voice declares that the men who 
have not defiled their garments upon earth are they who 
‘shall walk with Him in white. The great law of 
continuity and of increase, so that the dispositions 
cultivated here rise to sovereign power hereafter, and 
that what was tendency, and struggle, and imperfect 
realisation upon earth becomes fact and complete pos- 
session in the heavens, is declared in the words before 
us. 

What solemn importance that thought gives to the 
smallest of our victories or defeats here on earth! They 

























254 REVELATION (ox. 1. 


are threads in the web out of which our garment i 
to be cut. After all, yonder as here, we are dressed in | 
homespun, and we make our clothing and shape it for 
our wear. That truth is perfectly consistent with the 
other truth on which it reposes—that the Christian me 
owes to Christ the reception of the new garment of 
purity and holiness. The evangelical doctrine, ‘not kh , 
works of righteousness which we have done, and its 
complement in the words of my text, are perfectly 
harmonious. We cannot weave the web except Chris 
gives us yarn, nor can we work out our own salvatior 
except Christ bestows upon us the salvation which we 
work out. The two things go together. Let us re 
member that, whilst in one aspect the souls that were 
all clad in filthy garments are arrayed as a bridegroom 
decketh his bride with a fair vesture, in another aspect 
we ourselves, by our own efforts, by our own struggles, 
by our own victories, have to weave and fashion and 
cut and sew the dress which we shall wear for ever. 
II. Notice here the victor’s place in the Book of 
Life. " 
‘I will not blot out his name out of the Book of 
Life.’ I have pointed out that in the former clause 
the characteristic ‘I will give’ is omitted, in order that 
emphatic expression might be secured for the thought 
that in one aspect the reward of the future is automatic 
or self-working. But that thought is by no means a 
complete statement of the truth with regard to this 
matter; and so, in both of the subsequent clauses, we 
have our Lord representing Himself (for it is never to © 
be forgotten that these promises are Christ's own words 
from heaven) as clothed with His judicial functions, 
and as determining the fates of men. ‘I will not blot 
out his name out of the Book of Life.’ That is a solemn — 





y.5) V.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-ROBE 255 


and tremendous claim, that Christ’s finger can write, 
and Christ’s finger can erase, a name from that 
register. 

Now I have said that all these clauses link them- 
selves on to a whole series of Scriptural representatives. 
I showed that briefly in regard to the former; I would 
do so in regard to the present one. 

You will remember, perhaps, in the early history of 
Israel, that Moses, with lofty self-devotion, prayed God 
to blot his name out of His book, if only by that sacrifice 
Israel’s sin might be forgiven. You may recall too, 
possibly, how one of the prophets speaks of ‘ those that 
are written amongst the living in Jerusalem,’ and how 
Daniel, in his eschatological vision,refers to those whose 
names were or were not written in the book. I need 
not remind you of how our Lord commanded His 
disciples to rejoice not in that the spirits were subject 
to them, but rather to rejoice because their names were 
written in heaven. Nor need I do more than simply 
refer to the Apostle’s tender and pathetic excuse for 
not remembering the names of some of his fellow- 
workers, that it mattered very little, because their 
names were written in the Book of Life. Throughout 
this Apocalypse, too, we find subsequent allusions of 
the same nature, just as in the Epistle to the Hebrews 
we read of the ‘Church of the first-born whose names 
‘are written in heaven.’ Now all these, thus put 
together, suggest two ideas: one which I do not deal 
with here—viz., that of a burgess-roll—and the other 
that of a register of those who truly live. And that is 
the thought that is suggested here. The promise of 
my text links on to the picture in the letter of the 
condition of the Church at Sardis, which was dead, 
and says that the victor will truly and securely and for 


256 REVELATION [oma 


ever possess life, with all the clustered blessednes 
which, like a nebula unresolved, gather themselves, 
yet radiant, round that great word. 

But what I especially note here is, not so much this 
reiteration of the fundamental and all-embracing 
promise which has met us in preceding letters, the pre 
mise of a secure, eternal life, as that plain and solemn 
implication that a name may be struck out of that boo 
Theological exigencies compelled our fathers to deny 
that, but surely the words of our text are too plain 
to be neglected or misunderstood. It is possible that 
a name, like the name of a dishonest attorney, shal 
be struck off the rolls. Do not let any desire for 
theological symmetry blind you, brother, to that fact. 
Take it into account in your daily lives. Itis possible 
for a man to ‘cast away his confidence.’ It is possible 
for him to make shipwreck of the faith. Some of you 
will remember that pathetic story of Cromwell's death- 
bed, when he asked one of his ghostly counsellors 
whether it was true that ‘ once in the covenant, always 
in the covenant?’ He got the answer, ‘Yes’; and 
then he said, ‘I know I once was,’ and so died. 
Brethren, it is the victors whose names are kept upon 
the roll. These people at Sardis had a name to live, 
and they thought that their names were in the Book 
of Life. And when it was opened, lo! a blot. Some 
of us have seen upon the granite of Egyptian temples 
the cartouches of a defeated dynasty chiselled out by 
their successors. The granite on which this list is 
written is not so hard but that a man, by his own sin, 
falling away from the Master, may chisel out his name. 
A student goes up for his examination. He thinks h 
has succeeded. The pass-lists come out, and his name 
is not there. Take care that you are not building upon 
























] 


v.65) V.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-ROBE 257 


past faith, but remember that it is the victor’s name 
that is not blotted out of the Book of Life. 

Ill. Lastly, the victor’s recognition by the Command- 
ing Officer. 

‘I will confess his name before My Father, and before 
His angels.’ There, too, we have a kind of mosaic, 
made up of previous Scripture declarations. Our Lord, 
twice in the Gospels—and on neither occasion in the 
Gospel according to St. John—has similar sayings; 
once about confessing the name of him who confesses 
His name ‘before the Father’; once about confessing 
it ‘before the holy angels.’ Here these are smelted 
together into the one great recognition by Jesus Christ 
of the victor as being His. 

Now I need not remind you of how emphatically, 
to this clause also, the remark which I have made with 
regard to the former one applies, and how tremendous 
and inexplicable, except on one hypothesis, is this same 
assumption by Christ of judicial functions which deter- 
mine the fate and the standing of men. 

But I would rather point to the thought that this 
promise carries with it, not only Christ’s judicial recog- 
nition of the victor, but also the thought of loving 
relationship, of close friendship, of continual regard. 
He ‘confesses the name’—that means that He takes to 
His heart, and loves and cares for the person. 

Is it not the highest honour that can be given to 
any soldier, to have honourable mention in the general’s 
despatches? It matters very little what becomes of 
our names upon earth, though there they be dark, 
and swift oblivion devours them almost as soon as we 
are dead, except in so far as they may live for a little 
while in the memory of two or three that loved us. 
That is the fate of most of us. And surely ‘the hollow 

R 


258 REVELATION [ou o 


wraith of dying fame’ may ‘fade wholly,’ and we 
‘exult,’ if Jesus Christ confess our name. It matters 
little who forgets us if He remembers us. It matters 
even less what the judgments pronounced in our obitu- 
aries may be, if He says, ‘ That man is Mine, and I own 
him. Ah! brethren, what a reversal of the world’s 
judgments there will be one day; and how names that 
have been blown through a thousand trumpets, and 
had hosannas sung to them, and been welcomed with 
a tumult of acclaim through generations, will sink into 
eblivion and never be heard of any more, and the un- 
seen and obscure men who lived by, and for, and with 
Jesus Christ, will come to the front! Praise from Him 
is praise indeed. 

Now, brethren, the upshot of it all is that life here 
derives its meaning and its consecration from life here- 
after. The question for us is, do we habitually realise 
that we are weaving the garment we must wear, be it 
a poisoned robe that shall eat into our flesh like fire, 
er be it a vesture clean and white? Do we brace our- 
selves for the obscure struggles of our little lives, feel- 
ing that they are not small because they carry eternal 
eonsequences? Are we content to be unknown because 
well known by Him, and to live so that He shall ac 
knowledge us in the day when to be acknowledged by 
Him means glory and blessedness beyond all hopes and 
all symbols; and to be disowned by Him means ruin 
and despair? You know the conditions of victory. Lay 
them to heart, and its issues, and the tragical results 
of death; and then cleave, with mind and heart and 
will, to Him who can make you more than conquerors, 
who will change your frayed and dinted armour for 
the fine linen, clean and white, and will point to you, 
before His Father and the universe, and say, ‘This 




















v.5] KEEPING AND KEPT 259 


man was one of Thy faithful soldiers.’ That will be 
honour indeed. Do you see to it that you make it 
yours. 


KEEPING AND KEPT 


‘Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the 
hour of temptation.’—REv. iii. 10. 
THERE are only two of the seven churches which 
receive no censure or rebuke from Jesus Christ; and 
ef these two—viz., the churches of Smyrna and Phila- 
delphia—the former receives but little praise though 
much sympathy. This church at Philadelphia stands 
alone in the abundance and unalloyed character of the 
eulogium which Christ passes upon it. He doles out 
His praise with a liberal hand, and nothing delights 
Him more than when He can commend even our 
imperfect work. He does not wait for our perform- 
ances to reach the point of absolute sinlessness before 
He approves them. Do you think that a father ora 
mother, when its child was trying to please him or 
her, would be at all likely to say, ‘ Your gift is worth 
very little. I could buy a far better one in a shop’? 
And do you think that Jesus Christ’s love and delight 
in the service of His children are less generous than 
ours? Surely not. 
_ So here we are not to suppose that these good souls 
in Philadelphia lived angelic lives of unbroken holi- 
ness because Jesus Christ has nothing but praise for 
them. Rather we are to learn the great thought that, 
in all our poor, stained service, He recognises the 
central motive and main drift, and, accepting these, is 
glad when He can commend. ‘Thou hast kept the 


sha 


260 REVELATION {ex. m1. 


























word of My patience,’ and, with a beautiful reciprocity, 
‘I will keep those that keep My word from’ and ‘in 
the hour of temptation.’ 

I. Now notice, in the first place, the thing kept. 

That is a remarkable phrase ‘the word of My 
patience.’ A verse or two before, our Lord had said to 
the same church, evidently speaking about the same 
thing in them, ‘Thou hast a little strength, and hast 
kept My word. This expression, ‘the word of My 
patience,’ seems to be best understood in the same 
general way as that other which precedes it, and upon 
which it is a commentary and an explanation. It 
refers, not to individual commandments to patience, 
but to the entire gospel message, the general whole of 
‘the Word of Jesus Christ’ communicated therein to 
men. That is a profound and beautiful way of char- 
acterising the sum of the revelation of God in Christ 
as ‘the word of His patience,’ and is one which yields 
ample reward to meditative thought. 

The whole gospel, then, is so named, inasmuch as 
all records the patience which Christ exercised. 

What does the New Testament mean by ‘ patience’ 
Not merely endurance, although, of course, that is in- 
eluded, but endurance of such a sort as will sec 
persistence in work, in spite of all the opposition and 
sufferings which may come in the way. The world’ 
patience simply means, ‘ Pour on, I will endure.’ 
New Testament patience has in it the idea of persever- 
ance as well as of endurance, and means, not only t 
we bow to the pain or the sorrow, but that noth 
in sorrow, nothing in trial, nothing in temptati 
nothing in antagonism, has the smallest power 
divert us from doing what we know to be right 
The man who will reach his hand through 

















v. 10] KEEPING AND KEPT 261 


smoke of hell to lay hold of plain duty is the patient 
man of the New Testament. ‘Though there were 
as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the 
housetops, I will go in. That speech of Luther’s, 
though uttered with a little too much energy, ex- 
pressed the true idea of Christian patience. High 
above the stormy and somewhat rough determination 
of the servant towers, calm and gentle, and therefore 
stronger, the ‘patience’ of the Lord, and the whole 
story of His life on earth may well be regarded, from 
_ this point of view, as the record of His unfaltering 
and meek continuance in obedience to the Father's 
will, in the face of opposition and suffering. His life, 
to use a secular word, was the most ‘ heroic’ ever lived. 
Before Him was the thing to be done, and between 
Him and it were massed such battalions of antagonism 
and evil as never were mustered in oppdsition to any 
other saintly soul upon earth. And through all He 
went persistently, with ‘His face like a flint,’ of set 
purpose to do the work for which He came into the 
world. 

But there was no fierce antagonism about Jesus 
Christ's patience. His persistence, in spite of all 
obstacles and opposition, was the persistence of meek- 
ness, the heroism of gentleness. Patience in the lower 
sense of quiet endurance, as well as in the higher, of 
heroic scorn of all that opposition could do to hinder 
the realisation of the Father’s will, is deeply stamped 
upon His life. We think of His gentleness, of His 
meekness, of His humility, of all the softer, and, as 
men insolently call them, the more feminine virtues in 
Christ’s character. But I do not know that we often 
enough think of what men, with equal insolence and 
shortsightedness, call the masculine virtues of which, 





























262 REVELATION (oH, m1. 


too, He is the great Exemplar, that magnificent, un- 
paralleled, and perfectly quiet and unostentatious in- 
vincibility of will and heroism of settled resolve with 
which He pressed towards the mark, though the mark 
was a cross. 

This is the theme of the gospel story, and this 
Apocalypse of a gentle Christ, whose gentleness was 
the gentleness of inflexible strength, this story, or 
word ‘of My patience,’ is that which we are to lay upon 
our hearts. For that name is fitly applied to the 
gospel, inasmuch as it enjoins upon every one of us in 
our degree, and in regard of the far easier tasks and 
slighter antagonisms with which we have to do and 
which we have to meet, to make Christ’s persistence the 
model for our lives. So the whole morality of Christian- 
ity may almost be gathered up into this one expression, 
which sets forth at once the law and the supreme motive 
for fulfilling it. Unwelcome and hard tasks are made 
easy and delightsome when we hear Jesus say, ‘The 
record of My patience is thy pattern and thy power. 
Be like Me, and thou shalt be perfect and entire, want- 
ing nothing.’ 

II. Notice, next, the keepers of this word. 

The metaphor represents to us the action of one wh 
possessing some valuable thing, puts it into some saf 
place, takes great care of it, carries it very near to th 
heart, perhaps within the robe, and watches tenderly 
and jealously over it. So‘thou hast kept the word 
My patience.’ 

There are two ways by which Christians are to d 
that; the one is by inwardly cherishing the word, an 
the other by outwardly obeying it. There should 
both the inward counting it dear and precious, 
treasuring it in mind and heart, as the Psalmist sa 











v.10] KEEPING AND KEPT 263 


‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I should not 
effend against Thee, and also the regulation of conduct 
which we more usually regard as keeping the com- 
mandment. 

Let me say a word, and it shall only be a word, about 
each of these two things. Iam afraid that the plain 
practical duty of reading their Bibles is getting to be 
@ much neglected duty amongst professing Christian 
people. I donot know how you are to keep the words of 
Christ's patience in your hearts and minds if you do not 
read them. I am afraid that most Christian congrega- 
tions nowadays do their systematic and prayerful 
study of the New Testament by proxy, and expect their 
ministers to read the Bible for them and to tell them 
what is there. A mother will sometimes take a morsel 
of her child’s food into her mouth, and half masticate 
it first before she passes it to the little gums. I am 
afraid that newspapers, and circulating libraries, and 
magazines, and little religious books—very good in 
their way, but secondary and subordinate—have taken 
the place that our fathers used to have filled by 
honest reading of God’s Word. And that is one of the 
reasons, and I believe it is a very large part of the 
reason, why so many professing Christians do not 
come up to this standard; and instead of ‘running 
with patience the race that is set before them,’ walk 
in an extraordinarily leisurely fashion, by fits and 


starts, and sometimes with long intervals, in which 


they sit still on the road, and are not a mile farther 
at a year’s end than they were when it began. 
There never was, and there never will be, vigorous 
Christian life unless there be an honest and habitual 
study of God’s Word. There is no short-cut by which 
Christians can reach the end of the race. Foremost 


264 REVELATION ox. m 
























among the methods by which their eyes are enligh- 
tened and their hearts rejoiced are application to the 
eyes of their understanding of that eye-salve, and the 
hiding in their hearts of that sweet solace and fountain 
of gladness, the Word of Christ’s patience, the revela- 
tion of God's will. The trees whose roots are laved 
and branches freshened by that river have leaves that 
never wither, and all their blossoms set. 

But the word is kept by continual obedience in 
action as wellas by inward treasuring. Obviously the 
inward must precede the outward. Unless we can say 
with the Psalmist, ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, 
we shall not be able to say with him, ‘I have not hid 
Thy righteousness within my heart.’ If the Word of 
the Lord is to sound like a rousing trumpet-blast 
from our lives, it must first be heard in secret by us, 
and its music linger in our listening hearts. 

We need this brave persistence in daily life if we are 
not to fail wholly. Very instructive in this aspect 
are many of the Scripture allusions to ‘patience’ as 
essential to the various virtues and blessednesses of 
Christian life. 

For example, ‘In your patience ye shall win your 
souls. Only he who presses right on, in spite of all 
that externals can do to hinder him from realising his 
conviction of duty, is the lord of his own spirit. All 
others are slaves to something or some one. By per- 
sistence in the paths of Christian service, no matter 
what around or within us may rise up to hinder 
and by such persistence only, do we become masters 
ourselves. Many a man has to walk, as in the old days 
of ordeal by fire, over a road strewn with hot ploug 
shares, to get to the place where God will have him te 
be. And if he does not flinch, though he may reach 


=— Sear ——  ———EEEEEEOEEOEeEeEeEeEeEeEOEeeeeee eee ee 
a tte area EEE 


v. 10] KEEPING AND KEPT 265 


the goal with scorched feet, he will reach it with a 
quiet heart, and possess himself, whatever he may lose. 

Again, the Lord Himself says to us, ‘These are those 
which bring forth fruit with patience.’ There is no 
growth of Christian character, no flowering of Christian 
conduct, no setting of incipient virtues into the mature 
fruit of settled habit, without this persistent adher- 
ence in the face of all antagonism, to the dictates of 
conscience and the commandment of Christ. It is the 
condition of bringing forth fruit, some thirty, some 
sixty, and some a hundredfold. 

Again the Scripture says, demanding this same per- 
sistence, gentle abstinence, and sanctified stiffnecked- 
ness, ‘Run with perseverance the race that is set 
before you. There is no progress in the Christian 
course, no accomplishing the stadia through which we 
have to pass, except there be this dogged keeping at 
what we know to be duty, in spite of all the reluctance 
of trembling limbs, and the cowardice of our poor 
hearts. 

III. We have here Christ keeping the keepers of 
His word. 

‘Because thou hast kept the word of My patience I 
will keep thee from,’ and in, ‘the hour of temptation.’ 
There is a beautiful reciprocity, asI said. Christ will 
do for us as we have done with His word. Christ still 
does in heaven what He did upon earth. In the great 
high priest’s prayer recorded by the evangelist who 
was also the amanuensis of these letters from heaven, 
Jesus said, ‘I kept them in Thy name which Thou hast 
given Me, and I guarded them, and not one of them 
perished.’ And now, speaking from heaven, He con- 
tinues His earthly guardianship, and bids us trust that, 
just as when with His followers here, He sheltered 


| 



























266 REVELATION (or. mm. 


them as a parent bird does its young, fluttering round 
them, bearing them up on its wings, and drew them 
within the sacred circle of His sweet, warm, strong, 
impregnable protection, so, if we keep the word of His 
patience, cherishing the story of His life in our hearts, 
and humbly seeking to mould our lives after its sweet 
and strong beauty, He will keep us in the midst of, 
and also from, the hour of temptation. The Christ in 
heaven is as near each trembling heart and feeble 
foot, to defend and to uphold, as was the Christ upon 
earth. 

He does not promise to keep us at a distance from 
temptation, so as that we shall not have to face it, but 
from means, as any that can look at the original will 
see, that He will save us out of it, we having previously 
been in it, so as that ‘the hour of temptation’ shall not 
be the hour of falling. Yes! the man whose heart is 
filled with the story of Christ’s patience, and who is 
seeking to keep that word, will walk in the midst of the 
fire-damp of this mine that we live in, as with a safety 
lamp in his hand, and there will be no explosion. If 
we keep our hearts in the love of God, and in that great 
word of Christ’s patience, the gunpowder in our nature 
will be wetted, and when a spark falls upon it there 
will be no flash. Outward circumstances will not be 
emptied of their power to tempt, but our susceptibility 
will be deadened in proportion as we keep the word o 
the patience of the patient Christ. Thelustre of earth] 
brightnesses will have no glory by reason of the glo 
that excelleth, and when set by the side of heave 
gifts will show black against their radiance, as wo 
electric light between the eye and the sun. 

It is great to wrestle with temptation and fling i 
but it is greater to be so strong that it never grasps 











v. 10] ‘THY CROWN’ 267 


_ It is great to be victor over passions and lusts, and to 


put our heel upon them and suppress them, but it is 


_ better to beso near the Master that they have crouched 
_ before Him, and ‘the lion eats straw like the ox.’ 


To such blessed state we attain if, and only if, we 


_ draw near to Him and in daily communion with Him 
_ secure that the secret of His patient continuance in 
| well-doing is repeated in us. So we shall be lifted 
_ above temptation. That great word of His patience, 
and the spirit which goes with the word, will be for us 
| like the cotton wool that chemists put into the flask 
| which they wish to seal hermetically from the approach 
- of microscopic germs of corruption. It will let all the air 
_ through, but it will keep all the infinitesimal animated 
| points of poison out. It will filter the most polluted 


atmosphere, and bring it to our lungs clean and clear. 
‘If thou keep the word of My patience I will keep thee 


_ from the hour of temptation.’ 


‘THY CROWN’ 
*,.. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.’—REv. ili, 11. 


THe Philadelphian Church, to which these stirring 
words are addressed, is the only church of the seven in 
which there was nothing that Christ rebuked. It hadno 
faults, or at least no recorded faults, either of morals or 
of doctrine. It had had no great storm of persecution 
beating upon it, although one was threatened. But 
yet, although thus free from blame and occasion for 
censure, it was not beyond the need of stimulating 
exhortation, not beyond the need of wholesome warn- 
ing, not beyond the reach of danger and possible loss. 
‘That no man take thy crown’—as long as Christian 























268 REVELATION (on. uu. 


men are here, so long have they to watch against 
tendency of received truth to escape their hold because 
of its very familiarity; of things that are taken for 
granted to become impotent and to slip, and so for the 
crown to fall from the head, which is all unconscious 
of its discrowned shame. 
We have here, then, three things: ‘thy crown’; the 
possibility of losing it; the way to secure it. 
I. Now, as to the first. It contributes to the under- 
standing of the meaning of the metaphor to remembe 
that the crown spoken of here is not the symbol of 
royalty, not the golden or other circlet which kings and 
emperors wore, but the floral wreath or garland which 
in ancient social life played many parts: was laid o 
the temples of the victors in the games, was wreathed 
around the locks of the conquering general, w 
placed upon the anointed heads of brides and 
feasters, was the emblem of victory, of festivity, of joy. 
And it is this crown, not the symbol of dominion, bu 
the symbol of a race accomplished and a conquest won 
an outward and visible sign of a festal day, with all its 
abundance and ease and abandonment to delight, which 
the apocalyptic vision holds out before the Christiar 
man. 
The crown is a common figure all through the Ne 
Testament, and it may help us to grasp the fulness o 
the meaning of the metaphor if we just recall in 
sentence or two the various instances of its occurrence, 
It is spoken about under three designations, as a crow: 
of ‘life,’ of ‘ righteousness,’ of ‘ glory’; the first and la 
designating it in reference to that of which it may k 
supposed to consist, namely, life and glory; the centr 
one designating it rather in reference to that of whic 
it isthe reward. The righteousness of earth is crowne 





v.11] ‘THY CROWN’ 269 


by the more abundant life and the more radiant glory 
of the future. The roses that were wreathed round 
the flushed temples of the revellers withered and faded, 
and their petals drooped in the hot atmosphere of the 
banqueting hall, laden with fumes of wine. The parsley 
wreath, that was twined round the locks of the young 
athlete who had been victorious in the games, was 
withered to-morrow and cast into the dust heap. ‘But,’ 
says one of the New Testament writers, ‘the crown 
of glory fadeth not away.’ And the other wreaths, in- 
trinsically worthless, were only symbols of victory 
and honour, but this itself is full of preciousness and of 
substance and of power. 

Se the crown is the reward of righteousness, and 
consists of life so full that our present experience con- 
trasted with it may almost be called an experience 
of death; of glory so flashing and wonderful that, if 
our natures were not strengthened, it would be an 
‘exceeding weight of glory’ that would crush them 
down, and upon all the life and all the glory is stamped 
the solemn signature of eternity, and they are for ever. 
Now, says my text to each Christian, all this, the 
consequence and reward of sore toil, faithfully done, 
and of effort that strains every muscle in the race—the 
festal participation in life and glory for evermore—is 
‘thy crown’; not because thou hast it now, but because, 
as sure as God is God and righteousness is righteous- 
ness, nothing can prevent the man who, holding by 
Jesus Christ, has become possessor of the righteous- 
ness, which is of God by faith, from receiving that great 
reward. It is his already in the Divine destination; 
his by the immutable laws of proprietorship in God's 
kingdom; his upon the simple condition of his con- 
tinuing to be what he is. Like Peter's saying about 


270 REVELATION [on. mm. 

























the inheritance ‘reserved in heaven for you,’ this 
representation treats the perfect future blessedness of 
us who are toiling and struggling here as already in” 
existence and waiting for us, beyond the dust of the 
wrestling-ground, and the fury of the battlefield. Of 
eourse that is not meant to be taken in prosaic liter- 
ality. The ‘place’ may indeed be ‘prepared’ in which 
that blessedness is to be realised, but the blessedness 
itself can have no existence apart from those who 
possess it. The purpose of the representations is to 
put in the strongest possible way the absolute certainty 
of the heads that now are pressed by the helmet being 
then encircled with the crown, and of the strangers 
scattered abroad reaching and resting for ever in the 
promised land to which they journey. The reward is 
as sure as if each man’s crown, with his name engraved 
upon it, lay safely guarded in the treasure-house of 
God. 

The light of that great certainty should ever draw 
our weary eyes, weary of false glitter and vulgar gauds, 
The assurance of that joy unspeakable makes the bes 
joy here. Future blessedness, apprehended by the long 
arm of faith, brings present blessedness. The gladness 
and the power of the Christian life largely depend on 
the habitual beholding, with yearning and hope, of 
‘the King in His beauty and of the land that is very far 
off, and yet so near, and of our own proper ‘ portion of 
the inheritance of the saints in light.’ Christian men, 
it much concerns the vigour of your Christianity that 
you should take time and pains to cultivate the habit 
of looking forward through all the mists and darknes 
of this petty and unsubstantial present, and of thinking 
of that future as a certainty more certain than 
contingencies of earth and as a present possession, 





v.11] ‘THY CROWN’ 271 


more real by far than any of the fleeting shadows which 
we proudly and falsely call our own. They pass from 
hand to hand. They are mine to-day, another's to- 
morrow. I have no real possession of them while 
they were called mine. We truly possess but two 
possessions—God and ourselves. We possess both by 
the same way of giving ourselves to God in love and 
obedience; and of such surrender and possession the 
crown is the perfecting and the reward. ‘Thy crown’ 
will fit no temples but thine. Itis part of thy perfected 
self, and certain to be thine, if thou hold fast the 
beginning of thy confidence firm unto the end. 

II. Note next the grim possibility of losing the crown. 

‘That no man take’ it. Of course we are not to 
misunderstand the contingency shadowed here, as if it 
meant that some other person could filch away and put 
on his own head the crown which once was destined 
for us, which is a sheer impossibility and absurdity. 
No man would think to win heaven by stealing 
another's right of entrance there. No man could, if 
he were to try. The results of character cannot be 
transferred. Nor are we to suppose reference to the 
machinations of tempters, either human or diabolic, 
who deliberately and consciously try to rob Christians 
of their religion here, and thereby of their reward 
hereafter. But it is only too possible that men and 
things round about us may upset this certainty that 
we have been considering, and that though the crown 
be ‘thine, it may never come to be thy actual posses- 
sion in the future, nor ever be worn upon thine own 
happy head in the festival of the skies. 

That is the solemn side of the Christian life, that it is 
to be conceived of as lived amidst a multitude of men 
and things that are always trying to make us unfit to 


272 REVELATION [cH. 






























receive that crown of righteousness. They cannot 
work directly upon zt. It has no existence except as 
the efflorescence of our own character crowned by God's 
approbation. It is an ideal thing; but they can work 
upon us, and if they stain our heads with foul dust, then 
they make them unfit for our crown. So here are we, 
Christian men and women! in a world all full of things 
that tend and may be regarded as desiring to rob us of 
our crowns. This is not the way in which we usually 
think of the temptations that assail us. For instance, 
there comes some sly and whispering one to us and 
suggests pleasant hours, bought at a very small sacri- 
fice of principle; delights for sense or for ambition, or 
for one or other of the passions of our nature, and 
all looks very innocent, and the harm seems to be com- 
paratively small. Ah! let us look a little bit deeper. 
That temptation that seems to threaten so little and 
to promise so much is really trying to rob us of the 
crown. If we would walk through life with thi 
thought in our minds, how it would strip off the masks 
of all these temptations that buzz about us! If once 
we saw their purpose and understood the true aim of 
the flattering lies which they tell us, should we not see 
over the lies, and would not they lose their power to 
deceive us? Be sure—and oh! let us hold fast by th 
illuminating conviction when the temptations come— 
be sure that, with all their glozing words and fal 
harlot kisses, their meaning is this, to rob us of th 
bright and precious thing that is most truly ours; 
so let us put away the temptations, and say to the 
‘Ah! you come as a friend, but I know your meaning 
and forewarned is forearmed.’ 

Ill. Lastly, note the way to secure the crown whi 
is ours. 











———— 


vill] ‘THY CROWN’ 273 


| ‘Hold fast that thou hast.’ For if you do not hold it 
| fast, it will slip. The metaphor is a plain one—if a man 


has got something very precious, he grips it with a 
very tight hand. The slack hand will very soon bean 
empty hand. Anybody walking through the midst of 
_acrowd of thieves with a bag of gold in charge would 
not hold it dangling from a finger-tip, but he would 


put all five round it, and wrap the strings about his 


- wrist. 
The first shape which we may give to this exhortation 
is-—hold fast by what God has given in His gospel; hold 


_ fast His Son, His truth, His grace. Use honestly and 
'diligentiy your intellect to fathom and to keep firm 
hold of the great truths and principles of the gospel. 


Use your best efforts to keep your wandering hearts 


| and mobile wills fixed and true to the revealed love of 


the great Lover of souls, which has been given to you 


in Christ, and to obey Him. You have got a Christ 
_ that is worth keeping, see to it that you keep Him, and 
_ do not let Him slip away out of your fingers. When 
_ the storms come a wise captain lashes all the light 
articles, and then they are safe. You and I have te 


struggle through many astorm, and all the loose stuff on 


_ deck will be washed off or blown away long before we 
| get into calm water. Lash it by meditation, by faithful 


obedience, and by constant communion, and hold fast 
the Christian gospel, and, in the Christ whom the 
gospel reveals, the spiritual life that you possess. 
But there is another aspect of the same command- 
ment which applies not so much to that which is given 
usin the objective revelation and manifestation of God 
in Christ, as to our own subjective degrees of progress 
in the appropriation of Christ, and in likeness to Him. 
And possibly that is what my text more especially 
8 






















274 REVELATION {cu. mm 


means, for just a little before, the Lord has said to that 
Church, ‘Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept M 
word, and hast not denied My name. ‘Thou hast 
little strength. . . hold fast that which thou hast.’ Se 
to it that thy present attainment in the Christian life 
though it may be but rudimentary and incomplete, i 
at least kept. Cast not away your confidence, hold 
fast the beginning of your confidence firm, with 
tightened hand, unto the end. For if we keep what we 
have, it will grow. Progress is certain, if there be 
persistence. If we do not let it go, it will increase and 
multiply in our possession. In all branches of stud 
and intellectual pursuit, and in all branches of dail 
life, to hold fast what we have, and truly to possess 
what we possess, is the certain means to make our 
wealth greater. And so it is in the Christian life. 
true to the present knowledge, and use it, as it is meant 
to be used, and it will daily increase. ‘Hold fast tha 
thou hast.’ Thou hast the ‘strength’; thou hast not yet 
the crown. Keep what God has committed to you, and 
God will keep what He has reserved for you. 
And so the sure way to get the crown is to keep th 
faith; and then the life and the glory, which are bu 
the outcome and the fruit of the faithful, persistent 
life here, are as sure as the cycles of the heavens, or ¢ 
the throne and the will of God. Men and things and 
devils may try to take your crown from you, but 
nobody can deprive you of it but yourself. Hold fas 
the present possession, and make it really your ow 
and the future crown which God has promised to all 
who love and thereby possess Him will, in due time, 
twined around your head. He who has and holds 
Christ here cannot fail of the crown yonder. 





VI.—THE VICTOR'S LIFE-NAMES 


_ *Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he 
shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the 
mame of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of 
heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name.’—REv. iii. 12. 

‘THE eyes which were as a flame of fire saw nothing to 
blame in the Philadelphian Church, and the lips out 


of which came the two-edged sword that cuts through 


eli hypocrisy to the discerning of the thoughts and 


intents of the heart, spoke only eulogium—‘ Thou hast 
kept My word, and hast not denied My name. But 
however mature and advanced may be Christian ex- 
perience, it is never lifted above the possibility of temp- 
tation; so, with praise, there came warning of an 
approaching hour which would try the mettle of this 
unblamed Church. Christ’s reward for faithfulness is 
not immunity from, but strength in, trial and conflict. 
As long as we are in the world there will be forces 
Warring against us; and we shall have to fight our 
worst selves and the tendencies which tempt us to 
prefer the visible to the unseen, and the present to the 
future. So the Church which had no rebuke received 
the solemn injunction: ‘Hold fast that thou hast; 
let no man take thy crown. There is always need of 
struggle, even for the most mature, if we would keep 
what we have. The treasure will be filched from slack 
hands; the crown will be stricken from a slumbering 
head. Soit is not inappropriate that the promise to 
this Church should be couched in the usual terms, ‘te 
him that overcometh, and the conclusion to be drawn 


_ is the solemn and simple one that the Christian life is 


always a conflict, even to the end. 
The promise contained in my text presents practic- 


ally but a twofold aspect of that future blessedness; 
275 






















276 REVELATION (cH. 0 


the one expressed in the clause, ‘I will make him 
pillar’; the other expressed in the clauses referring toth 
writing upon him of certain names. I need not do 
more than again call attention to the fact that here, a 
always, Jesus Christ represents Himself as not onl 
allocating the position and determining the conditioz 
but as shaping, and moulding, and enriching the char- 
acters of the redeemed, and ask you to ponder th 
question, What in Him does that assumption involve ? 

Passing on, then, to the consideration of these tw 
promises more closely, let us deal with them singly. 
There is, first, the steadfast pillar; there is, second, 
the threefold inscription. 

I. The steadfast pillar. 

Now I take it that the two clauses which refer 
this matter are closely connected. ‘I will make him 
pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no mo 
out.’ In the second clause the figure is dropped, « 
the point of the metaphor is brought out more clearly. 
The stately column in the temples, with which thes 
Philadelphian Christians, dwelling in the midst of t 
glories of Greek architecture, were familiar, might be, 
and often has been, employed as a symbol of many 
things. Here it cannot mean the office of sustaining a 
building, or pre-eminence above others, as it natura 
lends itself sometimes to mean. For instance, 
Apostle Paul speaks of the three chief apostles in 
Jerusalem, and says that they ‘seemed to be pillars’; 
by which pre-eminence and the office of maintainin 
the Church are implied. But that obviously cannot b 
the special application of the figure here, inasmuch a 
we cannot conceive of even redeemed men sustain- 
ing that temple in the heavens, and also inasmuch « 
the promise here is perfectly universal, and is given 











Eee 








v.12] VI.—THE VICTOR’S LIFE-NAMES 277 


all that overcome—that is to say, to all the redeemed. 
We must, therefore, look in some other direction. 
Now, the second of the two clauses which are thus 
linked together seems to me to point in the direction 
in which we are to look. ‘He shall go no more out.’ 
A pillar is anaturalemblem of stabilityand permanence, 
as poets in many tongues and in many lands have felt it 


tobe. I remember one of our ownquaint English writers 


who speaks of men who ‘are bottomed on the basis of 
a firm faith, mounting up with the clear shaft of a 
shining life, and having their persevering tops gar- 
landed about, according to God’s promise, “I will give 
thee a crown of life.”’ That idea of stability, of per- 
manence, of fixedness, is the one that is prominent im 
the metaphor here. 

But whilst the general notion is that of stability and 
permanence, do not let us forget that it is permanence 
and stability in a certain direction, for the piliar is ‘ im 
the temple of My God.’ Now I would recall to you 
the fact that in other parts of Scripture we find the 
present relation of Christian men to God set forth under 
a similar metaphor: ‘Ye are the temple of the living 
God’; or again, ‘In whom ye are builded for a habita- 
tion of God through the Spirit’; or again, in that great 
word which is the foundation of all such symbols, ‘We 
will come and make our abode with Him.’ So that 
the individual believer and the community of all such 
are, even here and now, the dwelling-place of God. 
And whilst there are ideas of dignity and grace attach- 
ing to the metaphor of the pillar, the underlying mean- 


| ing of it is substantially that the individual souls of 


redeemed men shall be themselves parts of, and collec- 
tively shall constitute, the temple of God in the heavens. 
This book of the Apocalypse has several points of view 


278 REVELATION — (ou. mx 


in regard to that greatsymbol. It speaks, for instance 
of there being ‘no temple therein,’ by which is meant 
the cessation of all material and external worships 
such as belong to earth. It speaks also of God and th 
Lamb as themselves being ‘the Temple thereof.’ An¢ 
here we have the converse idea that not only may we 
think of the redeemed community as dwelling in God 
and Christ, but of God and Christ as dwelling in the re 
deemed community. The promise, then, is of a thril- 
ling consciousness that God is in us, a deeper realisation 
ef His presence, a fuller communication of His grace, 
a closer touch of Him, far beyond anything that we car 
conceive of on earth, and yet being the continuation 
and the completion of the earthly experiences of those 
in whom God dwells by their faith, their love, and their 
ebedience. We have nothing to say about the ne 
eapacities for consciousness of God which may come to 
redeemed souls when the veils of flesh and sense, and 
the absorption in the present drop away. We hay 
nothing to say, because we know nothing about 
new manifestations and more intimate touches whick 
may correspond to these new capacities. There « 
vibrations of sounds too rapid or too slow for our eg 
as at present organised to catch. But whether these 
be too shrill or too deep to be heard, if the ear were 
more sensitive there would be sound where there 
silence, and music in the waste places. So with new 
ergans, with new capacities, there will be a new a 
a deeper sense of the presence of God; and utterance 
ef His lips too profound to be caught by us now, or 
elear and high to be apprehended by our limited sense 
will then thunder into melody and with clear note 
sound His praises. There are rays of light in the 
spectrum, at both ends of it, as yet not perceptible to 
























v.12] VI—THE VICTOR’S LIFE-NAMES 279 


human eyes; but then ‘we shall, in Thy light, see 
_ light’ flaming higher and deeper than we can do now. 
We dwell in God here if we dwell in Christ, and we 
dwell in Christ if He dwell in us, by faith and love. 
But in the heavens the indwelling shall be more perfect, 
_ and transcend all that we know now. 

The special point in regard to which that perfection 
is expressed here is to be kept prominent. ‘He 
shall go no more out.’ Permanence, and stability, 
and uninterruptedness in the communion and conscious- 
ness of an indwelling God, is a main element in the 
! glory and blessedness of that future life. Stability in 
_ any fashion comes as a blessed hope to us, who know 
the curse of constant change, and are tossing on the 
unquiet waters of life. It is blessed to think of a region 
_ where the seal of permanence will be set on all delights, 
and our blessedness will be like the bush in the desert, 
_ burning and yet not consumed. But the highest form 
of that blessedness is the thought of stable, unin- 
_ terrupted, permanent communion with God and con- 
_ sciousness of His dwelling in us. The contrast forces 
itself upon us between that equable and unvarying 
- communion and the ups and downs of the most uniform 
Christian life here—to-day thrilling in every nerve with 
the sense of God, to-morrow dead and careless. Some- 
_ times the bay is filled with flashing waters that leap 
in the sunshine; sometimes, when the tide is out, there 
is only a long stretch of grey and oozy mud. It shall 
not be always so. Like lands on the equator, where 
| the difference between midsummer and midwinter is 
scarcely perceptible, either in length of day or in degree 
of temperature, that future will be a calm continuance, 
a uniformity which is not monotony, and a stability 
which does not exclude progress. 





280 REVELATION (cm. 1 


I cannot but bring into contrast with that great 
promise ‘he shall go no more out’ an incident in th 
gospels. Christ and the Twelve were in the upp 
room, and He poured out His heart to them, and thei 
hearts burned within them. But ‘they went out to the 
Mount of Olives’—He to Gethsemane and to Calvary; 
Judas to betray and Peter to deny; all to toil an¢ 
suffer, and sometimes to waver in their faith. ‘ 
shall go no more out.’ Eternal glory and unbroke 
eommunion is the blessed promise to the victor wh 
is made by Christ ‘a pillar in the temple of My God.’ 

II. Now, secondly, notice the threefold inscription. 

We have done with the metaphor of the pillar 
altogether. We are not to think of anything so incon: 
gruous as a pillar stamped with writing, a monstrosit; 
in Grecian architecture. But it is the man himse 
on whom Christ is to write the threefold name. Th 
writing of a name implies ownership and visibility. 

So the first of the triple inscriptions declares that th 
victor shall be conspicuously God's. ‘I will write upo 
him the name of My God.’ There may possibly be 
allusion to the golden plate which flamed in the fronte 
the high priest’s mitre, and on which was written thi 
unspoken name of Jehovah. But whether that b 
so or no, the underlying ideas are these two which | 
have already referred to—complete ownership, and tha 
manifested in the very front of the character. 

How do we possess one another? How do we belon 
to God? How does God belong to us? There is b 
one way by which a spirit can possess a spirit—by lo 
which leads to self-surrender and to practical obediene 
And if—as a man writes his name in his books, as ¢ 
farmer brands on his sheep and oxen the marks th 
express his ownership—on the redeemed there is writt 






























y.12] VI—THE VICTOR’S LIFE-NAMES 281 


the name of God, that means, whatever else it may 
mean, perfect love, perfect self-surrender, perfect 
obedience, that the whole nature shall be owned, and 
know itself owned, and be glad to be owned, by God. 
That is the perfecting of the Christian relationship 
which is begun here on earth. And if we here yield 
ourselves to God and depart from that foolish and 
always frustrated attempt to be our own masters and 
owners, so escaping the misery and burden of self-hood, 
and entering into the liberty of the children of God, we 
shall reach that blessed state in which there will be no 
murmuring and incipient rebellions, no disturbance of 
our inward submission, no breach in our active obedi- * 
ence, no holding back of anything that we have or are; 
but we shall be wholly God’s—that is, wholly possessors 
of ourselves, and blessed thereby. ‘He that loveth his 
life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life, the same 
shall find it.’ And that Name will be stamped on us, 
that every eye that looks, whoever they may be, shall 
know ‘whose we are and whom we serve.’ 

The second inscription declares that the victor con- 
spicuously belongs to the City. Our time will not 
allow of my entering at all upon the many questions 
that gather round that representation of ‘the New 
Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven.’ I must 
content myself with simply pointing to the possible 
allusion here to the promise in the preceding letter to 
Sardis. There we were told that the victor’s name 
should not ‘be blotted out of the Book of Life’; and 
that Book of Life suggested the idea of the burgess-roll 
of the city, as well as the register of those that truly 
live. Here thesame thought is suggested by a converse 
metaphor. The name of the victor is written on the 
rolls of the city, and the name of the city is stamped 


282 REVELATION (cH. 11. 


on the forehead of the victor. That is tosay, the affinity ‘ 
which, even here and now, has knit men who believe ~ 
in Jesus Christ to an invisible order, where is their true — 
mother-city and metropolis, will then be uncontradicted 
by any inconsistencies, unobscured by the necessary — 
absorption in daily duties and transient aims and 
interests, which often veils to others, and renders less 
conscious to ourselves, our true belonging to the city: 
beyond the sea. The name of thecity shall be stamped 
upon the victor. That, again, is the perfecting and the 
continuation of the central heart: of the Christian life 
here, the consciousness that we are come to the city of — 
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and belong to — 
another order of things than the visible and material — 
around us. 
The last of the triple inscriptions declares that the 
victor shall be conspicuously Christ's. ‘I will write 
upon him My new name. All the three inscriptions 
link themselves, not with earlier, but with later parts 
of this most artistically constructed book of the Revela- 
tion; and in a subsequent portion of it we read of a 
new name of Christ’s, which no man knoweth save 
Himself. What is that new name? It is an expression 
for the sum of the new revelations of what He is, which 
will flood the souls of the redeemed when they pass 
from earth. That new name will not obliterate the 
old one—God forbid! It will not do away with the 
ancient, earth-begun relation of dependence and 
faith and obedience. ‘Jesus Christ is the same... 
for ever’: and His name in the heavens, as upon earth, 
is Jesus the Saviour. But there are abysses in Him 
which no man moving amidst the incipiencies and im- 
perfections of this infantile life of earth can under- 
stand. Not until we possess can we know the depths 





v.12] LAODICEA 288 


of wisdom and knowledge, and of all other blessed 
treasures which are stored in Him. Here we touch 
but the fringe of His great glory; yonder we shall 
penetrate to its central flame. 

That new name no man fully knows, even when he 
has entered on its possession and carries it on his 
forehead; for the infinite Christ, who is the manifesta- 
tion of the infinite God, can never be comprehended, 
much less exhausted, even by the united perceptions 
of a redeemed universe; but for ever and ever, more 
and more will well out from Him. His name shall 
last as long as the sun, and blaze when the sun him- 
self is dead. 

‘IT will write upon him My new name’ was said toa 
church, and while the eulogium was, ‘Thou hast not 
denied My name.’ If we are to pierce the heart and 
the glory there, we must begin on its edges here. If 
the name is to be on our foreheads then, we must bear 
in our body the marks of the Lord Jesus—the brand of 
ownership impressed on the slave's palm. In the 
strength of the name we can overcome; and if we 
Overcome, His name will hereafter blaze on our fore- 
heads—the token that we are completely His for ever, 
and the pledge that we shall be growingly made like 
unto Him. 


LAODICEA 


‘I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot... . be zealous there- 
fore, and repent.’—REv. iii. 15, 19. 


We learn from Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians that 
there was a very close connection between that Church 
and this at Laodicea. It is a probable conjecture that 
a certain Archippus, who is spoken of in the former 
Epistle, was the bishop or pastor of the Laodicean 


284 REVELATION (CH. Int. 


Church. And if, as seems not unlikely, the ‘angels’ 
of these Asiatic churches were the presiding officers of 
the same, then it is at least within the limits of possi- — 
bility that the ‘angel of the Church at Laodicea,’ who 
received the letter, was Archippus. 

The message that was sent to Archippus by Paul was 
this: ‘Take heed to the ministry which thou hast 
received of the Lord, that thou fulfil it.’ And if thirty 
years had passed, and then Archippus got this message: 
‘Thou art neither cold nor hot,’ you have an example 
of how a little negligence in manifest duty on the part 
ef a Christian man may gradually grow and spread, 
like a malignant cancer, until it has eaten all the life 
out of him, and left him a mere shell. The lesson is 
for us all. 

But whether we see an individual application in 
these words or no, certainly the ‘angel of the church’ 
is spoken of in his character of a representative of the 
whole Church. So, then, this Laodicean community 
had no works. So far had declension gone that even 
Christ’s eye could see no sign of the operation of the 
religious principle in it; and all that He could say 
about it was, ‘thou art neither cold nor hot.’ 

It is very remarkable that the first and the last 
letters to the seven Churches deal with the same phase 
of religious declension, only that the one is in the 
germ and the other is fully developed. The Church of 
Ephesus had still works abundant, receiving and de- 
serving the warm-hearted commendation of the Master, 
but they had ‘left their first love. The Church at 
Laodicea had no works, and in it the disease had sadly, 
and all but universally, spread. 

Now then, dear friends, I intend, not in the way of 
rebuke, God knows, but in the way of earnest remon- 





vs. 15,19] LAODICEA 285 


strance and appeal to you professing Christians, toe 
draw some lessons from these solemn words. 

I. I pray you to look at that loving rebuke of the 
faithful Witness: ‘Thou art neither cold nor hot.’ 

We are manifestly there in the region of emotion. 
The metaphor applies to feeling. We talk, for instance, 
about warmth of feeling, ardour of affection, fervour 
of love, and the like. And the opposite, cold, expresses 
obviously the absence of any glow of a true living 
emotion. 

So, then, the persons thus described are Christian 
people (for their Christianity is presupposed), with 
very little, though a little, warmth of affection and 
glow of Christian love and consecration. 

Further, this defectiveness of Christian feeling is 
accompanied with a large amount of self-complacency: 
—Thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, 
and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou 
art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and 
naked.’ Of course it is so. A numbed limb feels no 
pain. As cold increases the sensation of cold, and of 
everything else, goes away. And asure mark of defec- 
tive religious emotion is absolute unconsciousness on 
the man’s part that there is anything the matter with 
him. All of you that have no sense that the indict- 
ment applies to you, by the very fact show that it 

applies most especially and most tragically to you. 
_ Self-complacency diagnoses spiritual cold, and is an 
inevitable and a constantly accompanying symptom of 
a deficiency of religious emotion. 

Then again, this deficiency of warmth is worse than 
absolute zero. ‘I would thou wert cold or hot.’ That 
is no spurt of impatience on the part of the ‘true 
Witness.’ It is for their sake that He would they were 


286 REVELATION (om. mm. 


eold or hot. And why? Because there is no man 
more hopeless than a man on whom the power of 
Christianity has been brought to bear, and has failed — 


in warming and quickening him. If you were cold, at 
absolute zero, there would be at least a possibility that 
when you were brought in contact with the warmth 

you might kindle. But you have been brought in — 


eontact with the warmth, and this is the effect. Then 
what is to be done with you? There is nothing more 


that can be brought to bear on your consciousness to © 


make you anything higher or better than you are, 
than what you have already had in operation in your 
spiritual life. And if it has failed, all God’s armoury is 
empty, and He has shot His last bolt, and there is 
nothing more left. ‘I would thou wert cold or hot.’ 
Now, dear friends, is that our condition? I am 


obliged sadly to say that I believe it is to a fearful © 


extent the condition of professing Christendom to-day. 


‘Neither cold nor hot!’ Look at the standard of 


Christian life round about us. Let us look into our 
own hearts. Let us mark how wavering the line is 
between the Church and the world; how little upon 
our side of the line there is of conspicuous consecration 
and unworldliness; how entirely in regard of an 
enormous mass of professing Christians, the maxims 
that are common in the world are their maxims; and 
the sort of life that the world lives is the sort of life 
that they live. ‘Oh! thou that art named the House of 
Israel,’ as one of the old prophets wailed out, ‘is the 
Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these His doings ?’” 
And so I would say, look at your churches and mark 
their feebleness, the slow progress of the gospel among 
them, the low lives that the bulk of us professing 
Christians are living, and answer the question: Is that 





| 
| 


vs. 15, 19] LAODICEA 287 


the operation of a Divine Spirit that comes to trans- 
form and to quicken everything into His own vivid 
and flaming life? or is it the operation of our own 
selfishness and worldliness, crushing down and hem- 
ming in the power that ought tosway us? Brethren! 
it is not for me to cast condemnation, but it is for each 
of us to ask ourselves the question: Do we not hear 
the voice of the ‘faithful and true Witness’ saying to 
us, ‘I know thy works, that thou art neither cold 
nor hot’? 

II. And now will you let me say a word next as to 
some of the plain causes of this lukewarmness cf 
spiritual life? 

Of course the tendency toitisinusall. Takea bar 
of iron out of the furnace on a winter day, and lay it 
down in the air, and there is nothing more wanted. 
Leave it there, and very soon the white heat will 
change into livid dulness, and then there will comea 
scale over it, and in a short time it will be as cold as 
the frosty atmosphere around it. And so there is 
always a refrigerating process acting upon us, which 
needs to be counteracted by continual contact with the 
fiery furnace of spiritual warmth, or else we are cooled 
down to the degree of cold around us. But besides 
this universally operating cause there are many others 
which affect us. 

Laodicea was a great commercial city, an emporium 
of trade, which gives especial point and appropriateness 
to the loving counsel of the context. ‘I advise thee to 
buy of Me gold tried in the fire. And Manchester life, 
with its anxieties, with its perplexities for many of 
you, with its diminished profits, and apparently dimin- 
ishing trade, is a fearful foe to the warmth and reality 
of your Christian life. The cares of this world, and 


288 REVELATION (cu. mm. 


the riches of this world are both amongst the thorns 
which choke the Word and make it unfruitful. I find — 
fault with no man for the earnestness which he flings — 
into his business, but I ask you to contrast this entire 
absorption of spirit, and the willing devotion of hours 
and strength to it, with the grudging, and the partial, — 
and the transient devotion of ourselves to the religious 
life; and say whether the relative importance of the 
things seen and unseen is fairly represented by the © 
relative amount of earnestness with which you and I 
pursue these respectively. 

Then, again, the existence among us, or around us, 
of a certain widely diffused doubt as to the truths of 
Christianity is, illogically enough, a cause for dimin- 
ished fervour on the part of the men that do not doubt 
them. That is foolish, and it is strange, but it is true. — 
It is very hard for us, when so many people round 
about us are denying, or at least are questioning, the ~ 
verities which we have been taught to believe, to keep — 
the freshness and the fervour of our devotion to these; 
just as it is very difficult for a man to keep up the 
warmth of his body in the midst of some creeping mist 
that enwraps everything. So with us, the presence, in — 
the atmosphere of doubt, depresses the vitality and the 
vigour of the Christian Church where it does not 
intensify its faith, and make it cleave more desperately 
to the things that are questioned. Beware, then, of 
unreasonably yielding so far to the influence of pre- 
vailing unbelief as to make you grasp with a slacker 
hand the thing which still you do not say that you 
doubt. 

And there is another case, which I name with some 
hesitation, but which yet seems to me to be worthy of — 
notice; and that is, the increasing degree to which 





vs. 15,19] LAODICEA 280 


Christian men are occupied with what we call, for 
want of a better name, secular things. The leaders in 
the political world, on both sides, in our great com- 
mercial cities, are usually professing Christians. I am 
the last man to find fault with any Christian man for 
easting himself, so far as his opportunities allow, into 
the current of political life, if he will take his Christi- 
anity with him, and if he will take care that he does 
not become a great deal more interested in elections, 
and in pulling the strings of a party, and in working 
for ‘the cause,’ than he is in working for his Master. 
I grudge the political world nothing that it gets of 
your strength, but Ido grudge, for your sakes as well 
as for the Church’s sake, that so often the two forms 
of activity are supposed by professing Christians to be 
incompatible, and that therefore the more important is 
neglected, and the less important done. Suffer the 
word of exhortation. 

And, in like manner, literature and art, and the 
ordinary objects of interest on the part of men who 
have no religion, are coming to absorb a great deal 
of our earnestness and our energy. I would not with- 
draw one iota of the culture that now prevails largely 
in the Christian Church. All that I plead for, dear 
brethren, is this, ‘ Ye are the salt of the earth.’ Go 
where you like, and fling yourselves into all manner of 
interests and occupations, only carry your Master with 
you. And remember that if you are not salting the 
world, the world is putrefying you. 

There I think you have some, though it be imperfect, 
account of the causes which operate to lower the tem- 
perature of the Christian Church in general, and of 
this Christian Church, and of you as individual mem- 
bers of it. 

T 


290 REVELATION (cH. mL 


III. Now, further, note the loving call here to deep- — 


ened earnestness. 


‘Be zealous, therefore. The word translated, and — 


rightly translated, zealous means literally boiling with 
heat. It is an exhortation to fervour. Now there is no 
worse thing in all this world than for a man to try to 
work up emotion, nothing which is so sure, sooner or 
later, to come to mischief, sure to breed hypocrisy and 
all manner of evil. If there be anything that is worse 


than trying to work up emotion, it is attempting to 


pretend it. So when our Master here says to us, ‘ Be 
zealous, therefore, we must remember that zeal in a 
man ought to be a consequence of knowledge; and 
that, seeing that we are reasonable creatures, intended 
to be guided by our understandings, it is an upsetting 
of the whole constitution of a man’s nature if his heart 
works independently of his head. And the only way 


in which we can safely and wholesomely increase our 


zeal is by increasing our grasp of the truths which 
feed it. 

Thus the exhortation, ‘Be zealous,’ if we come to 
analyse it, and to look into its basis, is this—Lay hold 
upon, and meditate upon, the great truths that will 
make your heart glow. Notice that this exhortation 
is a consequence, ‘ Be zealous, therefore,’ and repent. 


Therefore, and what precedes? A whole series of con- — 
siderations—such as these: ‘I counsel thee to buy of © 


Me gold tried in the fire... and white raiment... 
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve.’ Th >t is to say, 
lay hold of the truth that Christ possesses a full store 





of all that you can want. Meditate on that great © 
truth and it will kindle a flame of desire and of fruition — 


in your hearts. ‘Be zealous, therefore” And again, 
‘As many as I love I rebuke and chasten.’ ‘Be zealous, 


vs. 15,19] LAODICEKA 291 


therefore.’ That is to say, grasp the great thought of 
the loving Christ, all whose dealings, even when His 
voice assumes severity, and His hand comes armed 
with a rod, are the outcome and manifestation of His 
love; and sink into that love, and that will make your 
hearts glow. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock.’ 
‘Be zealous, therefore. Think of the earnest, patient, 
long-suffering appeal which the Master makes, bearing 
with all our weaknesses and our shortcomings, and not 
suffering His gentle hand to be turned away, though 
the door has been so long barred and bolted in His 
face. And let these sweet thoughts of a Christ that 
gives everything, of a Christ all whose dealings are 
love, of a Christ who pleads with us through the 
barred door, and tries to get at us through the obstacles 
which ourselves have fastened against Him, let them 
draw us to Him, and kindle and keep alight a brighter 
flame of consecration and of devotion in our hearts to 
Him. ‘Bezealous. Feed upon the great truths of the 
Gospel which kindles zeal. 

Brethren, the utmost warmth is reasonable in re- 
ligion. If Christianity be true, there is no measure of 
ardour or of consecration which is beyond the reason- 
able requirements of the case. We are told that ‘a 
sober standard of feeling in matters of religion’ is the 
great thing to aim at. So I say. But I would differ, 
perhaps, with the people that are fond of saying so, 
in my definition of sobriety. A sober standard is a 
standard of feeling in which the feeling does not out- 
run the facts on which it is built. Enthusiasm is 
disproportionate or ignorant feeling ; warmth without 
light. A sober, reasonable feeling is the emotion which 
is correspondent to the truths that evoke it. And will 
any man tell me that any amount of earnestness, of 


+ 


292 REVELATION (cH. mr. 


flaming consecration, of fiery zeal, is in advance of the © 
great truths that Christ loves me, and has given 
Himself for me? 

IV. And now, lastly, observe the merciful call to a 
mew beginning: ‘ Repent.’ 

There must be a lowly consciousness of sin, a clear — 
vision of my past shortcomings, an abhorrence of these, 
and, joined with that, a resolute act of mind and heart : 
beginning a new course, a change of purpose and of : 
the current of my being. 

Repentance is sorrow for the past, blended with a 
resolve to paste down the old leaf and begin a new 
writing on a new page. Christian men have need of — 
these fresh beginnings, and of new repentance, even as 
the patriarch when he came up from Egypt went te 
the place where ‘he builded the altar at the first, 
and there offered sacrifice. Do not you be ashamed, 
Christian men and women, if you have been living 
low and inconsistent Christian lives in the past, to 
make a new beginning and to break with that past. 
There was never any great outburst of life in a Christian © 
Church which was not preceded by a lowly penitence. 
And there is never any penitence worth naming which 
is not preceded by a recognition, glad, rapturous, con- 
fident as self-consciousness, of Christ's great and in- © 
finite love to me. 

Oh! if there is one thing that we want more than 
another to-day, it is that the fiery Spirit shall come — 
and baptise all the churches, and us as individual mem- — 
bers ofthem. What was it that finished the infidelity of 
the last century? Was it Paley and Butler, with their 
demonstrations and their books? No! it was John — 
Wesley and Whitefield. Here is a solution, full of — 
microscopic germs that will putrefy. Expose it te . 





vs.15,19] A LUKEWARM CHURCH 298 


heat, raise the temperature, and you will kill all the 
germs, so that you may keep it for a hundred years, 
and there will be no putrefaction in it. Get the tem- 
perature of the Church up, and all the evils that are 
eating out its life will shrivel and drop to the bottom 
dead. They cannot live in the heat; cold is their region. 

So, dear brethren, let us get near to Christ's love 
until the light of it shines in our own faces. Let us 
get near to Christ’s love until, like coal laid upon the 
fire, its fervours penetrate into our substance and 
change even our blackness into ruddy flame. Let us 
get nearer to the love, and then, though the world may 
laugh and say, ‘He hath a devil and is mad,’ they that 
see more clearly will say of us: ‘The zeal of Thine 
house hath eaten him up,’ and the Father will say even 
concerning us: ‘This is My beloved son, in whom I am 
well pleased.’ 


CHRIST'S COUNSEL TO A LUKEWARM CHURCH 


*I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and 
white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness 
do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.’— 
Rev. iii. 18. 


AFTER the scathing exposure of the religious condition 
of this Laodicean Church its members might have ex- 
pected something sterner than ‘counsel.’ There is a 
world of love and pity, with a dash of irony, in the use 
of that softened expression. He does not willingly 
threaten, and He never scolds; but He rather speaks 
to men’s hearts and their reason, and comes to them 
as a friend, than addresses Himself to their fears. 
Whether there be any truth or not in the old idea 
that these letters to the seven churches are so arranged 


294 REVELATION (ous, mest 


as, when taken in sequence, to present a fore-glimpse 


of the successive conditions of the Church till the 


; 


second coming of our Lord, it is at least a noteworthy ~ 
fact that the last of them in order is the lowest in © 
spiritual state. That church was ‘lukewarm’; ‘neither — 
eold’—untouched by the warmth of the Spirit of — 


Christ at all—‘ nor hot’—adequately inflamed thereby. 
That is the worst sort of people to get at, and it is 


no want of charity to say that Laodicea is repeated in — 
a thousand congregations, and that Laodiceans are ~ 


prevalent in every congregation. All our Christian 


eommunities are hampered by a mass of loose adherents — 


with no warmth of consecration, no glow of affection, 
no fervour of enthusiasm; and they bring down the 


the wind blows make the thermometer drop on the 
plains. It is not for me to diagnose individual con- 
ditions, but it is for me to take note of widespread 
eharacteristics and strongly running currents; and it 
is for you to settle whether the characteristics are 
yours or not. 

So I deal with Christ’s advice to a lukewarm church, 
and I hope to do it in the spirit of the Master who 
eounselled, and neither scolded nor threatened. 

I. Now I observe that the first need of the lukewarm 
ehurch is to open its eyes to see facts. 

I take it that the order in which the points of this 
eounsel are given is not intended to be the order in 
which they are obeyed. I dare say there is no thought 
of sequence in the succession of the clauses. But if 
there is, I think that a little consideration will show 
us that that which comes last in mention is to be first 
in fulfilment. 


’ 


Observe that the text falls into two distinct parts, : 
i 


temperature, as snow-covered mountains over 


o 


k 


v. 18] A LUKEWARM CHURCH 295 


and that the counsel to buy does not extend—though 
it is ordinarily read as if it did—to the last item in our 
Lord’s advice. These Laodiceans are bid to ‘buy of’ 
Him ‘ gold’ and ‘raiment,’ but they are bid to use the 
‘eyesalve’ that they ‘may see.’ No doubt, whatever is 
meant by that ‘eyesalve’ comes from Him, as does 
everything else. But my point is that these people are 
supposed already to possess it, and that they are bid to 
employ it. And, taking that point of view, I think we 
can come to the understanding of what is meant. 

No doubt the exhortation, ‘anoint thine eyes with 
eyesalve, that thou mayest see,’ may be so extended as 
to refer to the general condition of spiritual blindness 
which attaches to humanity, apart from the illuminat- 
ing and sight-giving work of Jesus Christ. That true 
Light, which lighteneth every man that cometh into 
the world, has a threefold office as the result of all the 
parts of which there comes to our darkened eyes the 
vision of the things that are. He reveals the objects 
to see; He gives the light by which we see them; and 
He gives us eyes to see with. He shows us God, im- 
mortality, duty, men’s condition, men’s hopes, and He 
takes from us the cataract which obscures, the short- 
sightedness which prevents us from beholding things 
that are far off, and the obliquity of vision which 
forbids us to look steadily and straight at the things 
which it is worth our while to behold. ‘For judgment 
am I come into the world,’ said He, ‘that they which 
see not might see.’ And it is possible that the general 
illuminating influence of Christ’s mission and work, 
and especially the illuminating power of His Spirit 
dwelling in men’s spirits, may be included in the 
thoughts of the eyesalve with which we are to anoint 
our eyes. 


296 REVELATION [cH. mL 


But the context seems to me rather to narrow the 
range of the meaning of this part of our Lord's counsel. 
For these Laodiceans had the conceit of their own 
sufficing wealth, of their own prosperous religious con- 
dition, and were blind as bats to the real facts that 
they were ‘ miserable and poor and naked.’ Therefore 
our Lord says: ‘Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that 
thou mayest see—recognise your true state; do not 
live in this dream that you are satisfactorily united to 
Myself, when all the while the thread of connection is 
so slender that it is all but snapped. Behold Me as I 
am, and the things that I reveal to you as they are; 
and then you will see yourselves as you are.’ 


So, then, there comes out of this exhortation this — 


thought, that a symptom constantly accompanying the 


lukewarm condition is absolute unconsciousness of it. 
In all regions the worse a man is the less he knows it. — 


It is the good people that know themselves to be bad; 


the bad ones, when they think about themselves, — 


conceit themselves to be good. It is the men in the 


van of the march that feel the prick of the impulse to — 
press farther: the laggards are quite content to stop 


in the rear. The higher a man climbs, in any science, 
or in the practice of any virtue, the more clearly he 
sees the unscaled peaks above him. The frost-bitten 
limb is quite comfortable. It is when life begins to 
come back into it that it tingles and aches. And so 
these Laodiceans were like the Jewish hero of old, who 
prostituted his strength, and let them shear away his 
locks while his lazy head lay in the harlot’s lap: he 
went out ‘to shake himself’ as of old times, and knew 
not that the Spirit of God had departed from him. So, 


brethren, the man in this audience who most needs | 
to be roused and startled into a sense of his tepid 


y. 18] A LUKEWARM CHURCH 297 


religionism is the man that least suspects the need, and 
would be most surprised if a more infallible and pene- 
trating voice than mine were to come and say to him, 
‘Thou—thou art the man.’ ‘Anoint thine eyes with 
eyesalve, that thou mayest see’; and let the light, 
which Christ pours upon unseen things, pour itself 
revealing into your hearts, that you may no longer 
dream of yourselves as ‘rich, and increased with goods, 
and having need of nothing’; but may know that you 
are poor and blind and naked. 

Another thought suggested by this part of the coun- 
sel is that the blind man must himself rub in the 
eyesalve. Nobody else can do it for him. True! it 
comes, like every other good thing, from the Christ in 
the heavens; and, as I have already said, if we will 
attach specific meanings to every part of a metaphor, 
that ‘eyesalve’ may be the influence of the Divine 
Spirit who convicts men of sin. But whatever it is, 
you have to apply it to your own eyes. Translate that 
into plain English, and it is just this, by the light of 
the knowledge of God and duty and human nature, 
which comes rushing in a flood of illumination from 
the central sun of Christ’s mission and character, test 
yourselves. Our forefathers made too much of self- 
examination as a Christian duty, and pursued it often 
for mistaken purposes. But this generation makes far 
too light of it. Whilst I would not say to anybody, 
‘Poke into the dark places of your own hearts in order 
to find out whether you are Christian people or not,’ 
for that will only come to diffidence and despair, I 
would say, ‘Do not be a stranger to yourselves, but 
judge yourselves rigidly, by the standard of God's 
Word, of Christ’s example, and in all your search, ask 
Him to give you that ‘candle of the Lord, which will 


298 REVELATION [cx. rz. 


shine into the dustiest corners and the darkest of our 
hearts, and reveal to us, if we truly wish it, all the 
eobwebs and unconsidered litter and rubbish, if not 
venomous creatures, that are gathered there. Apply 
the eyesalve; it will be keen, it will bite; welcome the 
smart, and be sure that anything is good for you which 
takes away the veil that self-complacency casts over 
your true condition, and lets the light of God into the 
eellars and dark places of your souls. 

II. The second need of the lukewarm church is the 
true wealth which Christ gives. 

‘I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire.’ 
Now there may be many different ways of putting the 
thought that is conveyed here, but I think the deepest 
truth of human nature is that the only wealth for a 
man is the possession of God. And so instead of, as 
many commentators do, suggesting interpretations 
which seem to me to be inadequate, I think we go to 
the root of the matter when we find the meaning of 
the wealth which Christ counsels us to buy of Him in 
the possession of God Himself, who is our true treasure 
and durable riches. 

That wealth alone makes us paupers truly rich. For 
there is nothing else that satisfies a man’s craving and 
supplies a man’s needs. ‘He that loveth silver shall 
not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abund- 
ance, with increase’; but if we have the gold of God, 
we are rich to all intents of bliss; and if we have Him 
not, if we are ‘for ever roaming with a hungry heart,’ 
and though we may have a large balance at our 
bankers, and much wealth in our coffers, and ‘ houses 
full of silver and gold,’ we are poor indeed. 

That wealth has immunity from all accidents. No 
possession is truly mine of which any outward con- 


v. 18] A LUKEWARM CHURCH 299 


tingency or circumstance can deprive me. But this 
wealth, the wealth of a heart enriched with the posses- 
sion of God, whom it knows, loves, trusts, and obeys, 
this wealth is incorporated with a man’s very being, 
and enters into the substance of his nature; and so 
nothing can deprive him of it. That which moth or 
rust can corrupt; that which thieves can break through 
and steal; that which is at the mercy of the accidents 
of a commercial community or of the fluctuations of 
trade; that is no wealth for a man. Only something 
which passes into me, and becomes so interwoven with 
my being as is the dye with the wool, is truly wealth 
forme. And such wealth is God. 

The only possession which we can take with us when 
our nerveless hands drop all other goods, and our hearts 
are untwined from all other loves, is this durable riches. 
‘Shrouds have no pockets,’ as the grim proverb has it. 
But the man that has God for his portion carries all 
his riches with him into the darkness, whilst of the 
man that made creatures his treasure it is written: 
‘His glory shall not descend after him.’ Therefore, 
dear brethren, let us all listen to that counsel, and buy 
of Jesus gold that is tried in the fire. 

III. The third need of a lukewarm church is the 
raiment that Christ gives. 

The wealth which He bids us buy of Him belongs 
mostly to ourinward life; the raiment which He prof- 
fers us to wear, as is natural to the figure, applies 
mainly to our outward lives, and signifies the dress 
of our spirits as these are presented to the world. 

Ineed not remind you of how frequently this meta- 
phor is employed throughout the Scriptures, both in the 
Old and the New Testament—from the vision granted 
to one of the prophets, in which he saw the high priest 


800 REVELATION fom, mm. | 


standing before God, clothed in filthy garments, which | 
were taken off him by angel hands, and he draped in — 
pure and shining vestures—down to our Lord’s parable 
of the man that had not on the wedding garment; and 
Paul's references to putting off and putting on the old 
and the new man with his deeds. Nor need I dwell 
upon the great frequency with which, in this book of 
the Revelation, the same figure occurs. But the sum 
and substance of the whole thing is just this, that we 
can get from Jesus Christ characters that are pure and 
radiant with the loveliness and the candour of His 
own perfect righteousness. Mark that here we are 
not bidden to put on the garment, but to take it from 
His hands. True, having taken it, we are to put it on, 
and that implies daily effort. So my text puts this 
counsel in its place in the whole perspective of a com- 
bined Christian truth, and suggests the combination 
of faith which receives, and of effort which puts on, 
the garment that Christ gives. No thread of it is 
woven in our own looms, nor have we the making of 
the vesture, but we have the wearing of it. 

There is nothing in the world vainer than effort after 
righteousness which is not based on faith. There is 
nothing more abnormal and divergent from the true 
spirit of the New Testament than faith, so-called, 
which is not accompanied with daily effort. On the 
one hand we must be contented to receive; on the 
other hand we must be earnest to appropriate. ‘ Buy 
of Me gold, and then wearerich. ‘Buy of Me raiment, 
and then—listen to the voice that says, ‘ Put off the old 
man with his deeds, and put on the new man of God 
created in righteousness and holiness of truth.’ 

IV. Lastly, all supply of these needs is to be 
bought. 

‘ Buy of Me.’ There is nothing in that counsel con- 


v. 18} A LUKEWARM CHURCH 801 


tradictory to the great truth that ‘the gift of God is 
eternal life. That buying is explained by the great 
gospel invitation, long centuries before the gospel— 
‘Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, 
... buy, and eat,... without money and without 
price. It is explained by our Lord’s twin parables of 
the treasure hid in a field, which, when a man had 
found, he went and sold all that he had and bought the 
field; and of the pearl of great price which, when the 
merchantman searching had discovered, he went and 
sold all that he had that he might possess the one, 

For what is ‘all that we have’? Self! and we have 
to give away self that we may buy the riches and the 
robes. The only thing that is needed is to get rid, once 
and for all, of that conceit that we have anything that 
we can offer as the equivalent for what we desire. He 
that has opened his eyes, and sees himself as he is, poor 
and naked, and so comes to sue in formé pauperis, and 
abandons all trust in self, he is the man who buys of 
Christ the gold and the vesture. If we will thus rightly 
estimate ourselves, and estimating ourselves, have not 
only the negative side of faith, which is self-distrust, 
but the positive, which is absolute reliance on Him, we 
shall not ask in vain. He counsels us to buy, and if we 
take His advice and come, saying, ‘Nothing in my hand 
I bring,’ He will not stultify Himself by refusing te 
give us what He has bid us ask. ‘What things were 
given to me; those I counted loss for Christ. Yea! 
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.’ If 
we, with opened eyes, go to Him thus, we shall come 
away from Him enriched and clothed, and say, ‘My 
soul shall be joyful in my God, for He hath clothed me 
with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me 
with the robe of righteousness.’ 


CHRIST AT THE DOOR 


‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the 
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.’—Rev. ili. 20. 
Many of us are familiar, I dare say, with the devoutly 
imaginative rendering of the first part of these won- 
derful words, which we owe to the genius of a living 
painter. In it we see the fast shut door, with rusted 
hinges, all overgrown with rank, poisonous weeds, 
which tell how long it has been closed. There stands, 
amid the night dews and the darkness, the patient 
Son of man, one hand laid on the door, the other bear- 
ing a light, which may perchance flash through some 
of its chinks. In His face are love repelled, and pity 
all but wasted; in the touch of His hand are gentleness 
and authority. 

But the picture pauses, of course, at the beginning of 
my text, and its sequel is quite as wonderful as its 
first part. ‘I will come in to him, and sup with him, 
and he with Me.’ What can surpass such words as 
these? I venture to take this great text, and ask you 
to look with me at the three things that lie in it; the 
suppliant for admission ; the door opened; the entrance, 
and the feast. 

I. Think, then, first of all, of that suppliant for 
admission. 

I suppose that the briefest explanation of my text is 
sufficient. Who knocks? The exalted Christ. What 
is the door? This closed heart of man. What does 
He desire? Entrance. What are His knockings and 
His voice? All providences; all monitions of His 
Spirit in man’s spirit and conscience; the direct invita- 


tions of His written or spoken word; in brief, whatso- 
802 


bn, ea ie 


v. 20] CHRIST AT THE DOOR 303 


ever sways our hearts to yield to Him and enthrone 
Him. This is the meaning, in the fewest possible 
words, of the great utterance of my text. 

Here is a revelation of a universal truth, applying to 
every man and woman on the face of the earth; but 
more especially and manifestly to those of us who live 
within the sound of Christ’s gospel and of the written 
revelations of His grace. True, my text was originally 
spoken in reference to the unworthy members of a 
little church of early believers in Asia Minor, but it 
passes far beyond the limits of the lukewarm Lao- 
diceans to whom it was addressed. And the ‘any 
man’ which follows is wide enough to warrant us in 
stretching out the representation as far as the bounds 
of humanity extend, and in believing that wherever 
there is a closed heart there is a knocking Christ, and 
that all men are lightened by that Light which came 
into the world. 

Upon that I do not need to dwell, but I desire to 
enforce the individual bearing of the general truth 
upon our own consciences, and to come to each with 
this message: The saying is true about thee, and at 
the door of thy heart Jesus Christ stands, and there 
His gentle, mighty hand is laid, and on it the flashes of 
His light shine, and through the chinks of the un- 
opened door of thy heart comes the beseeching voice, 
‘Open! Open unto Me. A strange reversal of the 
attitudes of the great and of the lowly, of the giver 
and of the receiver, of the Divine and of the human! 
Christ once said, ‘Knock and it shall be opened 
unto you.’ But He has taken the suppliant’s place, 
and, standing by the side of each of us, He beseeches 
us that we let Him bless us, and enter in for our 
rest. 


304 REVELATION (cm. 1. 


So, then, there is here a revelation, not only of a 
universal truth, but a most tender and pathetic dis 
elosure of Christ’s yearning love to each of us. What 
do you call that emotion which more than anything 
else desires that a heart should open and let it enter? 
We call it love when we find it in one another. Surely 
it bears the same name when it is sublimed into all 
but infinitude, and yet it is as individualising and 
specific as it is great and universal, as it is found in 
Jesus Christ. If it be true that He wants me, if it be 
true that in that great heart of His there are a thought 
and a wish about His relation to me, and mine to Him, 
then, then, each of us is grasped by a love that is like 
our human love, only perfected and purified from all 
its weaknesses. 

Now we sometimes feel, I am afraid, as if all that 
talk about the love which Jesus Christ has to each of 
us was scarcely a prose fact. There is a woeful lack of 
belief among us in the things that we profess to believe 
most. You are all ready to admit, when I preach it, 
that it is true that Jesus Christ loves us. Have you 
ever tried to realise it, and lay it upon your hearts, 
that the sweetness and astoundingness of it may soak 
into you, and change your whole being? Oh! listen, 
not to my poor, rough notes, but to His infinitely 
sweet and tender melody of voice, when He says to 
you, as if your eyes needed to be opened to perceive it, 
* Behold! I stand at the door and knock.’ 

There is a revelation in the words, dear friends, of 
an infinite long-suffering and patience. The door has 
long been fastened; you and I have, like some lazy 
servant, thought that if we did not answer the knock, 
the Knocker would go away when He was weary. 
But we have miscalculated the elasticity and the 


v. 20] CHRIST AT THE DOOR 


unfailingness of that patient Christ’s love. Rejected, 
He abides; spurned, He returns. There are men and 
women who all their lives long have known that Jesus 
Christ coveted their love, and yearned for a place in 
their hearts, and have steeled themselves against the 
knowledge, or frittered it away by worldliness, or 
darkened it by sensuality and sin. And they are once 
more brought into the presence of that rejected, 
patient, wooing Lord, who courts them for their souls, 
as if they were, which indeed they are, too precious to 
be lost, as long as there is a ghost of a chance that 
they may still listen to His voice. The patient Christ's 
wonderfulness of long-suffering may well bow us all 
in thankfulness and in penitence. How often has He 
tapped or thundered at the door of your heart, dear 
friends, and how often have you neglected to open? 
Is it not of the Lord’s mercies that the rejected or 
neglected love is offered you once more? and the voice, 
so long deadened and deafened to your ears by the 
rush of passion, and the hurry of business, and the 
whispers of self, yet again appeals to you, as it does 
even through my poor translation of it. 

And then, still further, in that thought of the 
suppliant waiting for admission there is the explana- 
tion for us all of a great many misunderstood facts in 
our experience. That sorrow that darkened your days 
and made your heart bleed, what was it but Christ's 
‘hand on the door? Those blessings which pour into 
your life day by day ‘beseech you, by the mercies of 
God, that ye yield yourselves living sacrifices.’ That 
unrest which dogs the steps of every man who has not 
found rest in Christ, what is it but the application of 
His hand to the obstinately closed door? The stings 


of conscience, the movements of the Spirit, the definite 
U 


B06 REVELATION (cH. 1. 


proclamation of His Word, even by such lips as mine, 
what are they all except His appeals to us? And this 
is the deepest meaning of joys and sorrows, of gifts” 
and losses, of fulfilled and disappointed hopes. This is 
the meaning of the yearning of Christless hearts, of 
the stings of conscience which come to us all. ‘Behold! 
I stand at the door and knock.’ If we understood 
better that all life was guided by Christ, and that 
Christ’s guidance of life was guided by His desire that 
He should find a place in our hearts, we should less 
frequently wonder at sorrows, and should better 
understand our blessings. 

The boy Samuel, lying sleeping before the light 
in the inner sanctuary, heard the voice of God, and 
thought it was only the grey-bearded priest that 
spoke. We often make the same mistake, and con- 
found the utterances of Christ Himself with the speech © 
of men. Recognise who it is that pleads with you; 
and do not fancy that when Christ speaks it is Eli that 
is calling; but say, ‘Speak, Lord! for Thy servant 
heareth.’ ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift 
them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory 
shall come in.’ 

II. And that leads me, secondly, to ask you to look 
at the door opened. 

I need not enlarge upon what I have already 
suggested, the universality of the wide promise here— 
‘If any man open the door’; but what I want rather 
to notice is that, according to this representation, ‘the 
door’ has no handle outside, and is so hinged that it 
opens from within, outwards. Which, being taken out 
of metaphor and put into fact, means this, you are the 
only being that can open the door for Christ to come 


in. The whole responsibility, brother, of accepting or 





v. 20] CHRIST AT THE DOOR 307 


rejecting God’s gracious Word, which comes to you alk 
in good faith, lies with yourself. 

I am not going to plunge into theological puzzles, 
but I appeal to consciousness. You know as well as I 
do—better a great deal, for it is yourself that is in 
question —that at each time when your heart and 
conscience have been brought in contact with the offer 
of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, if you had 
liked you could have opened the door, and welcomed 
His entrance. And you know that nobody and nothing 
kept.it fast except only yourselves. ‘Ye will not come 
to Me,’ said Christ, ‘that ye might have life.’ Men, 
indeed, do pile up such mountains of rubbish against 
the door that it cannot be opened, but it was they 
that put them there; and they are responsible if the 
hinges are so rusty that they will not move, or the 
doorway is so clogged that there is no room for it to 
open. Jesus Christ knocks, but Jesus Christ cannot 
break the door open. It lies in your hands to decide 
whether you will take or whether you will reject that 
which He brings. 

The door is closed, and unless there be a definite act 
on your parts it will not be opened, and He will not 
enter. So we come to this, that to do nothing is to 
keep your Saviour outside; and that is the way in 
which most men that miss Him do miss Him. 

I suppose there are very few of us who have ever 
been conscious of a definite act by which, if I might 
adhere to the metaphor, we have laid hold of the door 
on the inside, and held it tight lest it should be opened. 
But, I fear me, there are many who have sat in the 
inner chamber, and heard the gracious hand on the 
outer panel, and have kept their hands folded and 
their feet still, and done nothing. Ah! brethren, to do 





808 REVELATION (cH. I. 


nothing is to do the most dreadful of things, for it is 
to keep the shut door shut in the face of Christ. No 
passionate antagonism is needed, no vehement rejec- 
tion, no intellectual denial of His truth and His 
promises. If you want to ruin yourselves, you have : 
simply to do nothing! All the dismal consequences — 
will necessarily follow. : 
‘Well,’ you say, ‘ but you are talking metaphors; let — 
us come to plain facts. What do you want me to do?’ | 
I want you to listen to the message of an infinitely © 
loving Christ who died on the Cross to bear the sins of 
the whole world, including you and me; and who now 
lives, pleading with each of us from heaven that we 
will take by simple faith, and keep by holy obedience, 
the gift of eternal life which He offers, and He alone — 
can give. The condition of His entrance is simple 
trust in Him, as the Saviour of my soul. That is open- 
ing the door, and if you will do that, then, just as 
when you open the shutters, in comes the sunshine; 
just as when you lift the sluice in flows the crystal 
stream into the slimy, empty lock, so—I was going toe 
say by gravitation, rather by the diffusive impuise 
that belongs to light, which is Christ—He will enter 
in, wherever He is not shut out by unbelief and 
aversion of will. : 
III. And so that brings me to my last point, viz., the 
entrance and the feast. 
My text is a metaphor, but the declaration that ‘if 
any man open the door’ Jesus Christ ‘ will come in to 
him,’ is not a metaphor, but is the very heart and 
centre of the Gospel, ‘I will come in to him,’ dwell in 
him, be really incorporated in his being, or inspirited, 
if I may so say, in his spirit. Now you may think 
that that is far too recondite and lofty a thought to be 


— se eee 


v. 20] CHRIST AT THE DOOR 809 


easily grasped by ordinary people, but its very loftiness 
should recommend it to us. I, for my part, believe 
that there is no more prose fact in the whole world 
than the actual dwelling of Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God who is in heaven, in the spirits of the people that 
love Him and trust Him. And this is one great part 
of the Gospel that I have to preach to you, that into 
our emptiness He will come with His fulness; that 
into our sinfulness He will come with His righteous- 
ness; that into our death He will come with His 
triumphant and immortal life; and He being in us and 
we in Him, we shall be full and pure and live for ever, 
and be blessed with the blessedness of Jesus. So 
remember that embedded in the midst of the wonder- 
ful metaphor of my text lies the fact, which is the very 
centre of the Gospel hope, the dwelling of Jesus Christ 
in the hearts even of poor sinful creatures like you 
and me. 

But it comes into view here only as the basis of the 
subsequent promises, and on these I can only touch 
very briefly, ‘I will come in to him and sup with him, 
and he with Me.’ Well, that speaks to us in lovely, 
sympathetic language of a close, familiar, happy com- 
munication between Christ and my poor self, which 
shall make all life as a feast in company with Him. 
We remember who is the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ 
here. It is the disciple who knew most of what quiet- 
ness of blessedness and serenity of adoring communion 
there were in leaning on Christ’s breast at supper, 
easting back his head on that loving bosom; looking 
into those deep sad eyes, and asking questions which 
were sure of answer. And John, as he wrote down 
_the words ‘I will sup with him, and he with Me,’ per- 
haps remembered that upper room where, amidst all 


310 REVELATION (cH. m1. 






the bitter herbs, there was such strange joy and tran- 
quillity. But whether he did or no, may we not take 
the picture as suggesting to us the possibilities of 
loving fellowship, of quiet repose, of absolute satis- 
faction of all desires and needs, which will be ours if 
we open the door of our hearts by faith and let Jesus 
Christ come in? 

But, note, when He does come He comes as guest. 
‘I will sup with him.’ ‘He shall have the honour of 
providing that of which I partake.’ Just as upon earth 
He said to the Samaritan woman, ‘Give Me to drink, 
or sat at the table, at the modest village feast in 
Bethany, in honour of the miracle of a man raised 
from the dead, and smiled approval of Martha serving, 
as of Lazarus sitting at table, and of Mary anointing 
Him, so the humble viands, the poor man’s fare that 
our resources enable us to lay upon His table, are never 
too small or poor for Him to delight in. This King 
feasts in the neatherd’s cottage, and He will even con- 
descend to turn the cakes. ‘I will sup with Him.’ We 
cannot bring anything 80 coarse, so poor, so unworthy, 
if a drop or two of love has been sprinkled over it, but 
that it will be well-pleasing in His sight, and He Him- 
self will partake thereof. ‘He has gone to be a guest 
‘with a man that is a sinner.’ 

But more than that, where He is welcomed as guest, 
He assumes the place of host. ‘I will sup with him, 
and he with Me. You remember how, after the Resur- 
rection, when the two disciples, moved to hospitality, 
implored the unknown Stranger to come in and 
partake of their humble fare, He yielded to their 
importunity, and when they were in the guest- 
chamber, took His place at the head of the table, and 
blessed the bread and gave it to them. You remember 


v. 20] CHRIST AT THE DOOR 311 


how, in the beginning of His miracles, He manifested 
forth His glory in this, that, invited as a common 
guest to the rustic wedding, He provided the failing 
wine. And so, wherever a poor man apens his heart 
and says, ‘Come in,’ and I will give Thee my ‘best,’ 
Jesus Christ comes in, and gives the man His best, 
that the man may render it back to Him. He owes 
nothing to any man, He accepts the poorest from each, 
and He gives the richest to each. He is Guest and 
Host, and what He accepts from us is what He has first 
given to us. 

The promise of my text is fulfilled immediately 
when the door of the heart is opened, but it shadows 
and prophesies a nobler fulfilment in the heavens. 
Here and now Christ and we may sit together, but the 
feast will be like the Passover, eaten with loins girt 
and staves in hand, and the Red Sea and wilderness 
waiting to be trodden. But there comes a more per- 
fect form of the communion, which finds its parallel 
in that wonderful scene when the weary fishers, all of 
whose success had depended on their obedience to the 
_ Master's direction, discerned at last, through the grey 
of the morning, who it was that stood upon the shore, 
and, struggling to His side, saw there a fire of coals, 
and fish laid thereon, and bread, to which they were. 
bidden to add their modest contribution in the fish that 
they had caught; and the meal being thus prepared 
partly by His hand and partly by theirs, ennobled and 
filled by Him, His voice says, ‘Come and dine.’ So, 
brethren, Christ at the last will bring His servants to 
His table in His kingdom, and there their works shall 
follow them; and He and they shall sit together for 
ever, and for ever ‘rejoice in the fatness of Thy house, 
even of Thy holy temple.’ 














812 REVELATION (om. 1 


I beseech you, listen not to my poor voice, but to 
that speaks through it, and when He knocks do y 
open, and Christ Himself shall come in. ‘If any 
love Me he will keep My commandments, and My 
Father will love him, and We will come and make Our 
abode with him.’ 


VII._THE VICTOR’S SOVEREIGNTY 


‘To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as 7 
also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.’—REv. iii. 21. 
THE Church at Laodicea touched the lowest point of 
Christian character. It had no heresies, but that was 
not becausé it clung to the truth, but because it had 
not life enough to breed eventhem. It had no conspicu- 
ous vices, like some of the other communities. But it 
had what was more fatal than many vices—a low 
temperature of religious life and feeling, and a high 
notion of itself. Put these two things together—they 
generally go together—and you get the most fatal 
condition for a Church. It is the condition of a large 
part of the so-called ‘Christian world’ to-day, as that 
very name unconsciously confesses; for ‘world’ is the 
substantive, and ‘Christian’ only the adjective, and 
there is a great deal more ‘world’ than ‘Christian’ 
in many so-called ‘Churches.’ 

Such a Church needed, and received, the sharpest 
rebuke. A severe disease requires drastic treatment. 
But the same necessity which drew forth the sharp 
rebuke drew forth also the loftiest of the promises. If 
the condition of Laodicea was so bad, the struggle to — 
overcome became proportionately greater, and, conse- 
quently, the reward the larger. The least worthy may > 


a 
’ 


2. 


gt te oP ne 


y.21) THE VICTOR’S SOVEREIGNTY 313 


rise to the highest position. It was not to the victors 
over persecution at Smyrna, or over heresies at Thya- 
tira, nor even to the blameless Church of Philadelphia, 
but it was to the faithful in Laodicea, who had kept 
the fire of their own devotion well alight amidst the 
tepid Christianity round them, that this climax of all 
the seven promises is given. 

In all the others Jesus Christ stands as the bestower 
of the gift. Here He stands, not only as the bestower, 
but as Himself participating in that which He bestows. 
The words beggar all exposition, and I have shrunk 
from taking themas my text. We seem tosee in them, 
as if looking into some sun with dazzled eyes, radiant 
forms moving amidst the brightness, and in the midst 
of them one like unto the Son of man. But if my 
words only dilute and weaken this great promise, they 
may still help to keep it before your own minds for a 
few moments. Solask you to look with me at the 
two great things that are bracketed together in our 
text; only I venture to reverse the order of considera- 
tion, and think of— 

I. The Commander-in-Chief’s conquest and royal re- 
pose. 

‘I also overcame, and am set down with My Father 
in His throne.’ It seems to me that, wonderful as are 
all the words of my text, perhaps the most wonderful 
of them all are those by which the two halves of 
the promise are held together—‘ Even as I also.’ The 
Captain of the host takes His place in the ranks, and, 
if I may so say, shoulders His musket like the poorest 
private. Christ sets Himself before us as pattern of 
the struggle, and as pledge ‘of the victory and reward. 
Now let me say a word about each of the two halves of 
this great thought of our Lord’s identification of Him- 


314 REVELATION (or. 1m. 


self with us in our fight, and identification of us with 
Him in His victory. 

As to the former, I would desire to emphasise, with 
all the strength that I can, the point of view from 
which Jesus Christ Himself, in these final words from 
the heavens, directed to all the Churches, looks back 
upon His earthly career, and bids us think of it as a 
true conflict. You remember how, in the sanctities of 
the upper room, and ere yet the supreme moment of 
the crucifixion had come, our Lord said, when within 
a day of the Cross and an hour of Gethsemane, ‘I have 
overcome the world.’ This is an echo of that never-to- 
be-forgotten utterance that the aged Apostle had 
heard when leaning on his Master's bosom in the 
seclusion and silence of that sacred upper chamber. 
Only here our Lord, looking back upon the victory, 
gathers it all up into one as a past thing, and says, ‘I 
overcame, in those old days long ago. . 

Brethren, the orthodox Christian is tempted to think 
of Jesus Christ in such a fashion as to reduce His con- 
flict on earth to a mere sham fight. Let no supposed 
theological necessities induce you to weaken down in 
your thoughts of Him what He Himself has told us— 
that He, too, struggled, and that He, too, overcame. 
That temptation in the wilderness, where the necessities 
of the flesh and the desires of the spirit were utilised 
by the Tempter as weapons with which His unmoved 
obedience and submission were assailed, was repeated 
over and over again all through His earthly life. We 
believe—at least I believe—that Jesus Christ was in 
nature sinless, and that temptation found nothing in 
Him on which it could lay hold, no fuel or combustible — 
material to which it could set light. But, notwith-— 
standing, inasmuch as He became partaker of flesh and - 





21) THE VICTOR'S SOVEREIGNTY © 315 


blood, and entered into the limitations of humanity, 
His sinlessness did not involve His incapacity for being 
tempted, nor did it involve that His righteousness was 
- not assailed, nor His submission often tried. We be- 
lieve—or at least I believe—that He ‘did no sin, 
neither was guile found in His mouth. But I also 
reverently listen to Him unveiling, so faras may need 
to be unveiled, the depths of His own nature and 
experience, and I rejoice to think that He fought the 
good fight, and Himself was a soldier in the army 
of which He is the General. He is the Captain, the 
Leader, of the long procession of heroes of the faith; 
and He is the ‘perfecter’ of it, inasmuch as His own 
faith was complete and unbroken. 

But I may remind you, too, that from this great 
word of condescending self-revelation and identification, 
Wwe may well learn what a victorious life really is. ‘I 
overcame’; but from the world’s point of view He was 
utterly beaten. He did not gather in many who would 
listen to Him or care for His words. He was mis- 
understood, rejected; lived a life of poverty; died 
when a young man, a violent death; was hunted by 
all the Church dignitaries of His generation as a 
blasphemer, spit upon by soldiers, and execrated after 
His death. And that is victory, is it? Well, then, 
we shall have to revise our estimates of what is a 
conquering career. If He, the pauper-martyr, if He, 
the misunderstood enthusiast, if He conquered, then 
some of our notions of a victorious life are very far 
astray. 

Nor need I say a word, I suppose, about the com- 
pleteness, as well as the reality, of that victory of His. 
From heaven He claims in this great word just what 
He claimed on earth, over and over again, when He 





















316 REVELATION [cH. 


fronted His enemies with,‘ Which of you convinceth 
Me of sin?’ and when He declared in the sanctiti 
of His confidence with His friends, ‘I do always the 
things that please Him.’ The rest of us partially over- 
come, and partially are defeated. He alone bears Hi 
shield out of the conflict undinted and unstained. T: 
do the will of God, to dwell in continual communion 
with the Father, never to be hindered by anything that 
the world can present or my sins can suggest, whether 
of delightsome or dreadful, from doing the will of the 
Father in heaven from the heart—that is victory, and 
all else is defeat. And that is what the Captain of our 
salvation, and only He, did. 

Turn for a moment now to the other side of our 
Lord’s gracious identification of Himself with us. 
‘Even as I also am set down with My Father in His 
throne.’ That points back, as the Greek original shows 
even more distinctly, to the historical fact of the 
Ascension. It recalls the great words by which, with 
full consciousness of what He was doing, Jesus Christ 
sealed His own death-warrant in the presence of the 
Sanhedrim when He said: ‘Henceforth ye shall see 
the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power.’ It 
carries us still further back to the psalm which our 
Lord Himself quoted, and thereby stopped the mouths 
of Scribes and Pharisees: ‘The Lord said unto My Lord, 
sit Thou at My right hand till I make Thine enemies 
Thy footstool.’ He laid His hand upon that great 
promise, and claimed that it was to be fulfilled in His 
case. And here, stooping from amidst the blaze of the 
central royalty of the Universe, He confirms all that — 
He had said before, and declares that He shares the — 
Throne of God. : 

Now, of course, the words are intensely figurative, — 


1 


' 
4 


v.21) THE VICTOR'S SOVEREIGNTY 317 


and have to be translated as best we can, even though 
it may seem to weaken and dilute them, into less 
concrete and sensible forms than the figurative repre- 
sentation. But I think we shall not be mistaken if we 
assert that, whatever lies in this great statement far 
beyond our conception in the present, there lie in it 
three things—repose, royalty, communion of the most 
intimate kind with the Father. 

There is repose. You remember how the first martyr 
saw the opened heavens and the ascended Christ, in 
that very hall, probably, in which Christ had said, 
‘Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the 
right hand of power.’ But Stephen, as he declared, 
with rapt face smitten by the light into the likeness of 
an angel’s, saw Him standing at the right hand. We 
have to combine these two images, incongruous as they 
are in prose, literally, before we reach the conception 
of the essential characteristic of that royal rest of 
Christ’s. For it is a repose that is full of activity. 
‘My Father worketh hitherto, said He on earth, ‘and 
I work.’ And that is true with regard to His unseen 
and heavenly life. The verses which are appended to 
the close of Mark’s gospel draw a picture for us—‘ They 
went everywhere preaching the Word’: He sat at 
‘the right hand of God.’ The two halves do not fuse 
together. The Commander is in repose; the soldiers 
are bearing the brunt of the fight. Yes! but then 


there comes the word which links the two halves 


together. ‘They went everywhere preaching, the Lord 
also working with them.’ . 

Christ’s repose indicates, not merely the cessation 
from, but much rather the completion of, His work on 
earth, which culminated on the Cross; which work on 
earth is the basis of the still mightier work which He 


818 REVELATION (cH. Ir. 


is doing in the heavens. So the Apostle Paul sets up a 
great ladder, so to speak, which our faith climbs by 
successive stages, when he says, ‘He that died—yea, 
rather that is risen again—who is even at the right 
hand of God—who also maketh intercession for us.” 
His repose is full of beneficent activity for all that 
love Him. 

Again, there is set forth royalty, participation in 
Divine dominion. The highly metaphorical language 
of our text, and of parallel verses elsewhere, presents 
this truth in two forms. Sometimes we read of ‘sit- 
ting at the right hand of God’; sometimes, as here, we 
read of ‘sitting on the throne.’ The ‘right hand of 
God’ is everywhere. It is not a local designation. 
‘The right hand of the Lord’ is the instrument of His 
omnipotence, and to speak of Christ as sitting on the 
right hand of God is simply to cast into symbolical 
words the great thought that He wields the forces of 
Divinity. When we read of Him as enthroned on the 
Throne of God, we have, in like manner, to translate 
the figure into this overwhelming and yet most certain 
truth, that the Man Christ Jesus is exalted to supreme, 
universal dominion, and that all the forces of omni- 
potent Divinity rest in the hands that still bear, for 
faith, the prints of the nails. 

But again that session of Christ with the Father 
suggests the thought, about which it becomes us not 
to speak, of a communion with the Father—deep, in- 
timate, unbroken, beyond all that we can conceive or 
speak. We listen to Him when He says, ‘ Glorify Thou 
Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the 
world was.’ We bow before the thought that what He 
asked in that prayer was the lifting of one of our- 


| 
| 


‘ 


selves, the humanity of Jesus, into this inseparable — 


v.21] THE VICTOR’S SOVEREIGNTY 319 


unity with the very glory of God. And then we catch 
the wondrous words: ‘Even as I also.’ 

II. That brings me to the second of the thoughts 
here, which may be more briefly disposed of after the 
preceding exposition, and that is, the private soldier's 
share in the Captain’s victory and rest. ‘I will grant 
to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also.’ 

Now with regard to the former of these, our share 
in Christ’s triumph and conquest, I only wish to say 
one thing, and it is this—I thankfully recognise that 
to many who do not share with me in what I believe 
to be the teaching of Scripture, viz. the belief that 
Christ was more than example, their partial belief, as 
I think it, in Him as the realised ideal, the living 
Pattern of how men ought to live, has given 
strength for far nobler and purer life than could 
otherwise have been reached. But, brethren, it seems 
to me that we want a great deal more than a pattern, 
a great deal closer and more intimate union with 
the Conqueror than the mere setting forth of the 
possibility of a perfect life as realised in Him, ere we 
can share in His victory. What does it matter to me, 
after all, except for stimulus and for rebuke, that 
Jesus Christ should have lived the life? Nothing. 
But when we can link the words in the upper room, ‘I 
have overcome, and the words from heaven, ‘ Even as 
I also overcame,’ with the same Apostle’s words in his 
epistle, ‘This is the victory that overcometh the world, 
even our faith, then we share in the Captain’s victory 
in an altogether different manner from that which 
they do who can see in Him only a pattern that stimu- 
lates and inspires. For if we put our trust in that 
Saviour, then the very life which was in Christ Jesus, 
and which conquered the world in Him, will pass into 












320 REVELATION [cu 


us; and the law of the spirit of life in Christ 
make us more than conquerors through Him th 
loved us. _ 

And then the victory being secured, because Christ 
lives in us and makes us victorious, our participati 
in His throne is secure likewise. 

There shall be repose, the cessation of effort, the end 
of toil. There shall be no more aching heads, strained 
muscles, exhausted brains, weary hearts, dragging 
feet. There will be no more need for resistance. The 
helmet will be antiquated, the laurel crown will take 
its place. The heavy armour, that rusted the garment 
over which it was braced, will be laid aside, and the 
trailing robes, that will contract no stain from the 
golden pavements, will be the attire of the redeemed. 
We have all had work enough, and weariness enough, 
and battles enough, and beatings enough, to make us 
thankful for the thought that we shall sit on the 
throne. 

But if it is a rest like His, and if it is to be the rest 
of royalty, there will be plenty of work in it; work of 
the kind that fits us and is blessed. I know not what 
new elevation, or what sort of dominion will be 
granted to those who, instead of the faithfulness of 
the steward, are called upon to exercise the activity of 
the Lord over ten cities. I know not, and I care not; 
it is enough to know that we shall sit on His throne. 

But do not let us forget the last of the thoughts: 
‘They shall sit with Me.’ Ah! there you touch the 
eentre—‘To depart and to be with Christ, which is far 
better’; ‘Absent from the body; present with the 
Lord. We know not how. The lips are locked that 
might, perhaps, have spoken; only this we know, that, 
not as a drop of water is absorbed into the ocean and 


v.21] THE VICTOR'S SOVEREIGNTY 321 


loses its individuality, shall we be united to Christ. 
There will always be the two, or there would be no 
blessedness in the two being one; but as close as is 
compatible with the sense of being myself, and of His 
being Himself, will be our fellowship with Him. ‘He 
that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.’ 

Brethren, this generation would be a great deal the 
better for thinking more often of the promises and 
threatenings of Scripture with regard to the future. 
I believe that no small portion of the lukewarmness 
of the modern Laodicea is owing to the comparative 
neglect into which, in these days, the Christian teach- 
ings on that subject have fallen. I have tried in these 
sermons on these seven promises to bring them at 
least before your thoughts and hearts. And I beseech 
you that you would, more than you have done, ‘ have 
respect unto the recompense of reward, and let that 
future blessedness enter as a subsidiary motive into 
your Christian life. 

We may gather all these promises together, and 
even then we have to say, ‘the half hath not been told 
us. ‘It doth not yet appear what we shall be.’ 
Symbols and negations, and these alone, teach us the 
little that we know about that future; and when we 
try to expand and concatenate these, I suppose that 
our conceptions correspond to the reality about as 
closely as would the dreams of a chrysalis as to what 
it would be when it was a butterfly. But certainty and 
clearness are not necessarily united. ‘It doth not 
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when 
He shall appear we shall be like Him.’ Take ‘even as 
I also’ for the key that unlocks all the mysteries of 
that glorious future. ‘It is enough for the servant 
that he be as his Master.’ 

x 


THE SEVEN EYES OF THE SLAIN LAMB 


*...A Lamb as it had been slain, having... seven eyes, which are the seven 
Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.'"—REv. v. 6. 


















JOHN received a double commission, to write the things 
which are and the things which shall be. The things 
which are signify, I suppose, the unseen realities which 
flashed upon the inward eye of the solitary seer for a 
moment in symbol when the door was opened in 
Heaven. All that is here is seeming and illusion; the 
only substantial existences lie within the veil. And of 
all those ‘things which are,’ in timeless, eternal being, 
this vision of the throned ‘Lamb, as it had been slain,’ 
is the centre. 

Between the Great White Throne and the outer ring 
of worshippers, representing in the ‘living creatures’ 
the crown and glory of creatural life, and in the elders, 
the crown and glory of redeemed humanity, stands the 
Lamb slain, which is the symbolical way of declaring 
that for ever and ever, through Christ and for the sake 
of His sacrifice, there pass to the universe all Divine 
gifts, and there rise from the universe all thankfulness 
and praise. His manhood is perpetual, the influence of 
His sacrifice in the Divine administration and govern- 
ment never ceases. 

The attributes with which this verse clothes that 
slain Lamb are incongruous; but, perhaps, by reason of 
their very incongruity all the more striking and signi- 
ficant. The ‘seven horns’ are the familiar emblem of 
perfect power; the ‘seven eyes’ are interpreted by the 
seer himself to express the fulness of the Divine Spirit. 

The eye seems a singular symbol for the Spirit, but 
it may be used as suggesting the swiftest and subtlest 

s28 


v. 6] - THE SEVEN EYES 823 


way in which the influences of a human spirit pass out 
into the external universe. Atall events, whatever may 

have been the reason for the selection of the emblem, 
the interpretation of it lies here, in the words of our 
text itself. The teaching of this emblem, then, is: ‘ He, 
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having 
received the promise of the Father, sheds forth this.’ 
The whole fulness of spiritual Divine power is in the 
hand of Christ to impart to the world. 

I. The ‘slain Lamb’ is the Lord and Giver of the 
Spirit. He ‘hath the seven Spirits of God’ in the 
simplest sense of all, that the manhood of our Brother 
who died on the Cross for us, lifted up to the right 
hand of God, is there invested and glorified with every 
fulness of the Divine Spirit, and with all the mysteries 
of the life of God. Whatsoever there is, in Deity, of 
spirit and power; whatsoever of swift flashing energy ; 
whatsoever of gentleness and grace; whatsoever of 
holiness and splendour; all inheres in the Man Christ 
Jesus; unto whom even in His earthly lowliness and 
humiliation the Spirit was not given by measure, but 
unto whom in the loftiness of His heavenly life that 
Spirit is given in yet more wondrous fashion than in 
His humiliation. For I suppose that the exaltation 
with which Christ is exalted is not only a change of 
position, but in some sense His manhood is progressive ; 
and now in the Heavens is yet fuller of the indwell- 
ing Spirit than it was here upon earth. 

But it is not as the recipient, but as the bestower of 
the Spirit, that He comes before us in the great words 
of my text. All that He has of God, He has that He 
may give. Whatsoever is His is ours; we share in His 
fulness and we possess His grace. He gives His own 
life, and that is the very central idea of Christianity. 


324 REVELATION 

























There are very many imperfect views of 
work afloat in the world. The lowest of them, the 
most imperfect, so imperfect and fragmentary as 
scarcely to be worth calling Christianity at all, is the 
view which recognises Him as being merely Example, 
Guide, Teacher. High above that there comes the 
view which is common amongst orthodox people of the 
more superficial type—the view which is, I am afraid, 
still too common amongst us—which regards the whole 
work of Jesus Christ as terminated upon the Cross. It 
thinks of Him as being something infinitely more than 
Teacher and Guide and Example, but it stops at the 
thought of His great reconciling death as being the 
eompletion of His work, and hears Him say from the 
Cross, ‘It is finished,’ with a faith which, however 
genuine, cannot but be considered as imperfect unless 
it is completed with the remembrance that it was but 
ene volume of His work that was finished when He 
died upon the Cross. His death was really a transition 
to a form of work which if not loftier was at all events 
other than the work which was completed upon Cal- 
vary. His earthly life finished His perfect obedien 
as Pattern and as Son; His death on the Cross finished 
His mighty work of self-surrender and sacrifice, which 
is propitiation and atonement for the sins of the whole 
world. His life on earth and His death on the 
taken together finished His great work of revealing 
the Father in so far as that revelation depended upon 
outward, objective facts. But His life on earth and 
His death on the Cross did not even begin the wor 
but only laid the foundation for it, of communicati 
to men the life which was in Himself. He lived t 
He might complete obedience and manifest the Father. 
He died that He might ‘put away sin’ and reveal the 


v. 6] THE SEVEN EYES 325 


Father still more fully. And now, exalted at the right 
hand of God, He works on through the ages in that 
which is the fruit of His Cross and the crown of His 
sacrifice, the communication to men, moment by 
moment, of His own perfect life, that they too may 
live for ever and be like Him. 

He died that we might not die; He lives that the life 
which we live in the flesh may be His life and not ours. 
We may not draw comparisons between the greatness 
of the various departments of our Master’s work, but 
we can say that His earthly life and His death of 
shame are the foundation of the work which He does 
to-day. And so, dear brethren, whilst nineteen cen- 
turies ago His triumphant words, ‘It is finished, rang 
out the knell of sin’s dominion, and the first hope for 
the world’s emancipation, another voice, far ahead still 
in the centuries, waits to be spoken; and not until the 
world has been filled with the glory of His Cross and 
_ the power of His life shall it be proclaimed: ‘It is 
done!’ 

The interspace between these two is filled with the 
activity of that slain Lamb who, by His death, has 
become the Lord of the Spirit; and through His blood 
is able to communicate to all men the life of His own 
soul. The Lord of the Spirit is the Lamb that was 
slain. 

_ II. Then let me ask you to look, secondly, at the 
representation here given of the infinite variety of 
gifts which Christ bestows. 

- Throughout this Book of the Revelation we find this 
remarkable expression, in which the Spirit of God is 
not spoken of as in His personal unity, but as in seven- 
fold variety. So at the beginning of the letter we find 
the salutation, ‘Grace and peace from Him which is, 








326 REVELATION (cH. ¥. 


and was, and which is to come; and from the 
Spirits which are before His Throne.’ And again 
read, in one of the letters to the churches: ‘These 
things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and 
the seven stars’; the correspondence being marked 
between the number of each. And again we read in 
the earlier part of this same vision, in the preceding 
ehapter, that before the throne there were seven 
torches flaming, ‘which are the seven Spirits of God.’ 
And so, again, in my text, we read, ‘seven Spirits of 
God sent forth into all the earth.’ 

Now it is obvious that there is not any question 
here of the personality and unity of the Divine Spirit, 
which is sufficiently recognised in other parts of the 
Apocalypse, such as ‘the Spirit and the Bride say: 
“Come!” ’ and the like; but that the thing before the 
Evangelist’s mind is the variety of the operations and 
activities of that one Spirit. 

And the number ‘seven, of course, at once suggests 
the idea of perfection and completeness. 

So that the thought emerges of the endless, bound- 
less, manifoldness, and wonderful diversity of the 
operations of this great life-spirit that streams from 
Jesus Christ. 

Think of the number of designations by which that 
Spirit is described in the New Testament. In regard 
to all that belongs to intellectual life, He is ‘the 
Spirit of wisdom’ and of ‘illumination in the know- 
ledge of Christ,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Truth.’ In regard 
to all that belongs to the spiritual life, He is ‘the Spirit 
of holiness,’ the ‘Spirit of liberty’; the Spirit of self- 
eontrol, or as rendered in our Bible, ‘of a sound mind’; 
the ‘Spirit of love.’ In regard to all that belongs to 
the practical life, He is ‘the Spirit of counsel and 


v. 6] THE SEVEN EYES 327 


of might,’ the ‘Spirit of power.’ In regard to all that 
belongs to the religious life, He is ‘the Spirit of 
Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba! Father!’; the ‘Spirit 
of grace and of supplication,’ the ‘Spirit of life.’ So 
over the whole round of man’s capacity and nature, all 
his intellectual, moral, practical, and religious being, 
there are gifts which fit each side and each part 
of it. 

Think of the variety of the symbols under which He 
is presented: ‘the oil,’ with its soft, gentle flow; ‘the 
fire, with its swift transmuting, purifying energy; the 
water, refreshing, fertilising, cleansing; the breath, 
quickening, vitalising, purifying the blood; the wind, 
gentle as the sigh of an infant, loud and mighty as a 
hurricane, sometimes scarcely lifting the leaves upon 
the tender spring herbage, sometimes laying the city 
low in a low place. It is various in manifestation, 
graduating through all degrees, applying to every side 
of human nature, capable of all functions that our 
weakness requires, helping our infirmities, making 
intercession for us and in us, with unutterable groan- 
ings, sealing and confirming our possession of His 
grace; searching the deep things of God and revealing 
them to us; guiding into all truth, freeing us from the 
law of sin and death. There are diversities of opera- 
tion, but the same Spirit. It is protean, and takes 
every shape that our necessities require. 

Think of all men’s diverse weaknesses, miseries, sins, 
eravings—every one of them an open door through 
which God’s grace may come; every one of them a 
form provided into which the rich molten ore of this 
golden Spirit may flow. Whatsoever a man needs, 
that he will find in the infinite variety of the spiritual 
help and strength which the Lamb slain is ready to 







328 REVELATION [om ¥ 


give. It is like the old fable of the manna, which 
Rabbis tell us tasted upon each lip precisely what 
man chose. So this nourishment from above becomes 
to every man what each man requires. Water will take 
the shape of any vessel into which you choose to pour 
it; the Spirit of God assumes the form that is imposed 
upon it by our weaknesses and needs. And if you 
want to know the exhaustless variety of the seven 
Spirits which the Lamb gives, find out the multiplicity 
and measure, the manifoldness and the depth, of man’s 
necessities, of weakness, of sorrow, and sin, and you 
will know how much the Spirit of God is able to bestow 
and still remain full and unexhausted. 

III. Still further, my text suggests the unbroken con- 
tinuity of the gifts which the slain Lamb has to give. 

The language of the original, for any of you that can 
consult it, will show you that the word ‘sent’ might 
be rendered ‘being sent,’ expressive of a continual 
impartation. 

Ah! God's Spirit is not given once in a way and then 
stops. It is given, not by fits and starts. People talk 
about ‘ revivals,’ as if there were times when the Spirit 
of God came down more abundantly than at other 
times upon the world, or upon churches, or upon indi- 
viduals. It is not so. There are variations in our 
receptiveness; there are no variations in its steady 
efflux. Does the sun shine at different rates, are its’ 
beams cut off sometimes, or poured out with less energy, 
or is it only the position of the earth that makes the 
difference between the summer and the winter, the days 
and the nights, whilst the great central orb is raying out 
at the same rate all through the murky darkness, all 
through the frosty days? And so the gifts of Jesus 
Christ pour out from Him at a uniform continuous 


v.6] THE SEVEN EYES 829 


rate, with no breaks in the golden beams, with no 
pauses in the continual flow. Pentecost is far back, 
but the fire that was kindled then has not died down 
into grey ashes. It is long since that stream began to 
flow, but it is not yet shrunken in its banks. For ever 
and for ever, with unbroken continuity, whether men 
receive or whether they forbear, He shines on, com- 
municating Himself and pouring out the Spirit of 
‘grace, ay! even into a non-receiving world! How much 
sunshine seems to be lost, how much of that Spirit’s 
influence seems lost, and yet it pours on for ever. 

Men talk about Christianity as being effete. People 
to-day look back upon the earlier ages, and say: 
‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah?’ The earlier ages 
had nothing that you and I have not, and Christianity 
will not die out, and God’s Church will not die out, 
until the sun that endureth for ever is shorn of its 
beams and forgets to shine. The seven Spirits are 
streaming out as they were at the beginning, and as— 
blessed be God !—they shall do to the end. 

IV. And, lastly, my text suggests a universal diffu- 
sion of these gifts. ‘Seven Spirits of God sent forth 
into all the earth. The words are a quotation from a 
remarkable prophecy in the book of Zechariah, which 
speaks about the ‘seven eyes of God,’ running— 


‘To and fro over all the earth.’ 


There are no limitations of these gifts to any one 
race or nation as there were in the old times, nor any 
limitations either to a democracy. ‘On My servants 
and on My handmaidens will I pour out of My Spirit.’ 
In olden days the mountain-tops were touched with 
the rays, and all the lowly valleys lay deep in the 
shadow and the darkness. Now the risen sunshine 


830 REVELATION [cH. v. 


pours down into the deepest clefts, and no heart so 
poor, so illiterate, so ignorant but that it may receive 
the full sunshine of that Spirit. 

Of course, in the very widest of all senses the words 
are true of the universal diffusion of spiritual gifts 
from Christ; for all the light with which men see is 
His light; and all the eyes with which they have ever 
looked at truth, or beauty, or goodness, come from 
Him who is ‘the Master-light of all our seeing. And 
poet, and painter, and thinker, and teacher, and phil- 
anthropist, and every man that has helped his fellows 
or has had any glimpse of any angle or bit of the 
Divine perfection, has seen because the eye of the class 
or order. Christianity as the true Lord has been in 
some measure granted to him, and ‘the inspiration of | 
the Almighty has given him understanding.’ . 

But the universal diffusion of spiritual gifts of this 
sort is not what is meant in my text. Itmeans the gifts 
of a higher religiouscharacter. And I need not remind 
you of how over broad lands that were heathen when 
John in his rocky Patmos got this vision, there has 
now dawned the glory of Christ and the knowledge of 
His name. Think of all the treasures of the literature 
of the Christian Church in Latin and African and 
Teutonic Jands that have come since the day when 
this chapter was written. Think of what Britain was 
then and of what it is to-day. Remember the heroisms, 
holinesses, illuminations that have shone over these 
then barbarous lands since that time; and understand 
how it has all come because from the Lamb by the 
Throne there has been sent out over all the earth the ~ 
Spirit that is wisdom and holiness and life. . 

And think how steadily down through layers of — 
society that were regarded as outcast and contempt- 





v.6} PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE 3831 


ible in the time of the founding of the Church, there 
has trickled and filtered the knowledge of Himself and 
of His grace; and how amongst the poor and the 
humble and the outcast, amongst the profligate and 
the sinful, there have sprung up flowers of holiness 
and beauty all undreamed of before; and we shall 
understand how all classes in all lands may receivea 
portion of the sevenfold Spirit. 

Every Christian man and woman is inspired, not to 
be a teacher of infallible truth, but inspired in the true 
and deep sense that in them dwells the Spirit of Jesus 
Christ. ‘If any man have not the Spirit he is none of 
His.’ All of us, weak, sinful as we are, ignorant and 
bewildered often, may possess that Divine life to live 
in our hearts. 

Only, dear brethren, remember it is the slain Lamb 
that gives the Spirit. And unless we are looking to 
that Lamb slain as our hope and confidence, we shall 
not receive it. A maimed Christianity that has a 
Christ, but no slain Lamb, has little of His Spirit; but 
if you trust to His Sacrifice, and rest your whole hopes 
on His Cross, then there will come into your hearts His 
own mighty grace, and ‘the law of the Spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus will make you free from the law of sin 
and death,’ 


THE PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE 


*. .. Lo, a great multitude . . . stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.’—REv. vii. 9. 


THE Seer is about to disclose the floods of misery which 
are to fall upon the earth at the sound of the seven 
trumpets, like avalanches set loose by a noise. But 
before the crash of their descent comes there is a lull. 


















332 REVELATION [cH. vu 
He sees angels holding back the winds, like dogs in a 


leash, lest they should blow, and all destructive agencie 
are suspended. In the pause before the storm he sees 
two visions: one, that of the sealing of the servants of 
God, the pledge that, amidst the world-wide calamities, 
they shall be secure; and one, this vision of my text, 
the assurance that beyond the storms there waits 
ealm region of life and glory. The vision is meant 
brace all generations for their trials, great or small, 
draw faith and love upwards and forwards, to calm 
sorrow, to diminish the magnitude of death and the 
pain of parting, and to breed in us humble desires that, 
when our time comes, we too may go to join that 
great multitude. 

It can never be inappropriate to look with the eye 
of the Seer on that jubilant crowd. So I turn to these 
words and deal with them in the plainest possible 
fashion, just taking each clause as it lies, though, for 
reasons which will appear, modifying the order ix 
which we look at them. I think that, taken together, 
they tell us all that we can or need know about that 
future. 

I. Note the palm-bearing multitude. 

Now the palm, among the Greeks and Romans, we 
a token of victory. That is usually taken to be the 
meaning of the emblem here, as it was taken in 
well-known hymn— 


‘More than conquerors at last.’ 


But it has been well pointed out that there is no trac 
of such a use of the palm in Jewish practice, and that | 
all the emblems of this Book of the Revelation move» 
within the circle of Jewish ideas. Therefore, app om 
priate as the idea of victory may be, it is not, as I tz 


v.9) PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE = 333 


it, the one that is primarily suggested here. Where, 
_then, shall we look for the meaning of the symbol ? 

Now there was in Jewish practice a very significant 
use of the palm-branches, for it was the prescription 
of the ritual law that they should be employed in the 
Feast of Tabernacles, when ‘the people were bidden to 
take palm-branches and ‘rejoice before the Lord seven 
days. It is that distinctly Jewish use of the palm- 
branch that is brought before our minds here, and not 
the heathen one of mere conquest. 

So then, if we desire to get the whole significance 
and force of this emblem of the multitude with the 
palms in their hands, we have to ask what was the 
significance of that Jewish festival. Like all other 
Jewish feasts, it was originally a Nature-festival, 
applying to a season of the year, and it afterwards 
came to have associated with it the remembrance of 
something in the history of the nation which it com- 
memorated. That double aspect, the natural and the 
historical, are both to be kept in view. Let us take 
the eldest one first. The palm-bearing multitude before 
the Throne suggests to us the thought of rejoicing 
reapers at the close of the harvest. The year’s work is 
done, the sowing days are over, the reaping days have 
come. ‘They that gather it shall eat it in the courts of 
the Lord.’ And so the metaphor of my text opens out 
into that great thought that the present and the future 
are closely continuous, and that the latter is the time 
for realising, in one’s own experience, the results of the 
life that we have lived here. To-day is the time of 
sowing; the multitude with the palms in their hands 
are the reapers. Brother! what are you sowing? 
Will it be for you a glad day of festival when you 
have to reap what you have sown? Are you scattering 


334 REVELATION [ox. vr 



























poisoned seed? Are you sowing weeds, or are yc 
sowing good fruit that shall be found after many days 
unto praise and honour and glory? Look at your life 
here as being but setting in motion a whole series of 
eauses of which you are going to have the effects 
punctually dealt out to you yonder in the time to 
come. That great multitude reaped what they h 
sown, aud rejoiced in the reaping. ShallI? We are 
like operators in a telegraph office, touching keys hell 
which make impressions upon ribbons in a land beyond 
the sea, and when we get there we shall have to rea 
what we have written here. How will you like i 
when the ribbon is taken out of the machine and 
spread before you, and you have to go over it syllable b 
syllable and translate all the dots and dashes into what 
they mean? It will be a feast or a day of sadness. 
But, festival or no, there stands plain and irrefragable 
the fact that ‘whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
also reap,’ and he will not only have to reap it, but he 
will have to eat it, and be filled with the fruit of his 
own doings. That is the first thought. 
Turn to the otherone. That palm-bearing multitude 
keeping their Feast of Tabernacles reminds us of the 
other aspect of the festival in its original intentiorz 
which was the commemoration of all that God had 
done for the people as they passed through the wilde 
ness, and the rejoicing, in their settled abode, over 
‘the way by which the Lord their God had led them, 
and over the rest to which He had led them. So the 
other idea comes out that they who have passed inte 
that great Presence look back on the darkness and the 
dreariness, on the struggles and the change, on th 
drought and the desert, on the foes and the fears, an 
out of them all find occasions for rejoicing and reas 


v.9) PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE — 835 


for thankfulness. There can be no personal identity 
without memory, and the memory of sorrows changes 
into joy when we come to see the whole meaning and 
trend of the sorrow. The desert was dreary, solitary, 
dry, and parched as they passed through it. But like 
some grim mountain-range seen in the transfiguring 
light of sunrise, and from the far distance, all grimness 
is changed into beauty, and the long dreary stretch 
looks, when beheld from afar, one unbroken manifesta- 
tion of the Divine love and presence. What was grim 
rock and cold ice when we were near it is clothed with 
the violets and the purples that remoteness brings, 
and there shines down upon it the illuminating and 
interpreting light of the accomplished purpose of God. 
So the festival is the feast of inheriting consequences, 
and the feast of remembering the past. 

There is one other aspect of this metaphor which I 
may just mention inasentence. Later daysin Judaism 
added other features to the original appointments of 
the Feast of Tabernacles, and amongst them there was 
one which our Lord Himself used as the occasion of 
setting forth one aspect of His work. ‘On the last day, 
that great day of the feast,’ the priests went down from 
the Temple, and filled their golden vases at the foun- 
tain, brought back the water, and poured it forth in 
the courts of the Temple, chanting the ancient song 
from the prophet, ‘ With joy shall ye draw water out 
of the wells of salvation.’ And our Lord in His earthly 
life used this last day of the feast and its ceremonial 
as the point of attachment for His revelation of Himself, 
as He who gave to men the true living water. In like 
manner, the expansion of my text, which occurs in the 
subsequent verses, refers, as it would seem, to the 
festival, and to our Lord’s own use of it, when we read 






336 REVELATION (cn. vi. 


that the ‘Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne 
shall be their Shepherd, and shall lead them to the 
fountains of living waters.’ 

So the emblem of the feast brings to our mind, not 
only the thought of retribution and of repose, but also 
the thought of the abundant communication of all 
supplies for all the desires and thirsts of the dependent 
and seeking soul. Whatsoever human nature can need 
there, it receives in its fulness from Jesus Christ. The 
Rabbis used to say that he who had not seen the joy 
of the Feast of Tabernacles did not know what joy 
meant; and I would say that until we, too, stand there, 
with the palms in our hands, we shall not know of how 
deep, fervent, calm, perpetual a gladness the human 
heart is capable. 

II. Note their place and attitude. 

They stand before the Throne, and before the Lamb. 
Now it would take me too far away from my present 
purpose to do more than point, in a sentence, to that 
remarkable and tremendous juxtaposition of the 
‘Throne’ and the ‘Lamb,’ which Lamb is the crucified 
Christ. What did the man that ventured upon that 
form of speech, bracketing together the ‘Throne’ of 
the Divine Majesty and the slain ‘Lamb’ who is Christ, 
think about Christ that he should sever Him from all 
the multitude of men, and unite Him with the solitary 
God? Lonly ask. I leave you to answer. 

But I turn to the two points—‘before the Throne 
and the Lamb,’ and ‘standing’; and these two suggest, 
as it seems to me, the two thoughts which, though we 
eannot do much to fill them out, are yet all-sufficient 
for illumination, for courage, and for hope. These two 
are the thought of nearness and the thought of service. 
‘Before the Throne and the Lamb’ is but a picturesque 


a 


eee 


v.9}] PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE — 337 


way of saying ‘to depart and to be with Christ, which 
is far better.’ I do not enter upon any attempt to 
expound the manner of such nearness. All that I say 
is that it is a poor affair if we are to let flesh and sense 
interpret for us what is meant by ‘near’ and ‘far.’ 
For even here, and whilst we are entangled with this 
corporeal existence and our dependence upon the con- 
ditions of time and space, we know that there is 
nearness mediated by sympathy and love which is 
independent of, which survives and disregards, ex- 
ternal separation in space. Every loving heart knows 
that where the treasure is, there the heart is, and 
where the heart is, there the man is. And the very 
same thing that knits us together, though oceans wide 
between us roll, in its highest form will knit the souls 
that love Jesus Christ to Him, wherever in space they 
and He may be. Here we have five senses, five 
windows, five gates. If our ears were different we 
should hear sounds, shrill and deep, which now are 
silence to us. If our eyes were different we should see 
rays at both ends of the spectrum which now are 
invisible. The body hides as much as it reveals, and 
we may humbly believe that when the perfect spirit 
is clothed with its perfect organ, the spiritual body— 
that is to say, the body that answers to all the needs 
of the spirit, and is its fit instrument, then many of 
those melodies which now pass by us unheard will fill 
our senses with sweetness, and many of these flashing 
lustres which now we cannot gather into visual im- 
pressions will then blaze before us in the perfect light. 
We shall be near Him, and to be with Christ, however 
it is mediated (and we cannot tell how), is all that you 
need, for peace, for nobleness, for blessedness, for 
immortality. Brethren! to have Christ with me here 
Y 


338 REVELATION (oH. v11. 


is my strength; to be with Christ yonder is my blessed- 
ness. They are ‘before the Throne of God and the 
Lamb. Ido not believe that we know much beyond 
that, and I am sure that we need nothing beyond it, if 
we rightly understand all that it means. 
But I said there was another idea here, and that is 
\implied by the words, they ‘stood before the Throne,’ 
and is further drawn out in the expansion of my text 
(which follows it as interpretation: ‘Therefore are 
‘they before the Throne of God, and serve Him day and 
night in His Temple.’ What the nature of the service 
may be it boots not to inquire, only let us remember 
that the caricature of the Christian heaven which has 
often been flung at Christian people as a taunt, viz, 
that it is an eternity of idleness and psalm-singing, has 
no foundation in Scripture, because the New Testament 
conception unites the two thoughts of being with 
Christ and of service for Christ. Remember, for 
instance, the parable of the pounds and the talents, in 
which the great law is laid down. ‘Thou hast been 
faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over 
many things, and mark how here ‘these... that 
came out of great tribulation’ are not only in His 
presence, but active in His service. We have the same 
blending still more definitely set forth in the last 
ehapter of this book, where we read of ‘those who 
serve Him, and see His face’; where the two ideas of 
the life of contemplation and rapt vision, and of the 
life of active service and joyful employment are welded 
together as being not only not incompatible, but abso- 
lutely necessary for each other’s completeness. 
But remember that if there is to be service yonder, 
here is the exercising ground, where we are to cultivate 
the capacities and acquire the habitudes which there 


q 


1 


. 
J 


v.9] PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE = 339 


will find ampler scope and larger field. I donot know 
what we are here in this world for at all, unless it is to 
apprentice us for heaven. I do not know that there 
is anything that a man has to do in this life which is 
worth doing unless it be asa training for doing some- 
thing yonder that shall more entirely correspond with 
his capacities. So what kind of work are you doing, 
friend? Is it the sort of work that you will be able to 
carry on when you pass beyond all the trivialities of 
this life? I beseech you, remember this, that life om 
earth is a bewilderment and an enigma for which 
there is no solution, a long piece of irony, unless 
beyond the grave there lie fields for nobler work for 
which we are being trained here. And I pray you see 
to it that your life here on earth is such as to prepare 
you for the service, day and night, of the heavens. 
How can I drive that home to your hearts and con- 
sciences? I cannot; you must do it for yourselves. 

III. Lastly, note their dress. 

‘Clothed with white robes ’—the robe is, of course, in 
all languages, the character in which, as the result of 
his deeds, a man drapes himself, that of him which is 
visible to the world, the ‘ habit’ of his spirit, as we say 
(and the word ‘habit’ means both custom and costume), 
‘White’ is, of course, the heavenly colour; ‘white 
thrones,’ ‘ white horses’ are in this book, and the white 
is not dead but lustrous, like our Lord’s garments on 
the Mount of Transfiguration, such white as sunshine 
smiting a snowfield makes. So, then, the dress, the 
habit of the spirits is of lustrous purity, or glory, to 
put it all into one word. But more important than 
that is this question: How came they by such robes? 
The expansion of our text, to which I have already 
referred more than once, and which immediately fol- 





340 REVELATION [cu. 


lows, answers the question. ‘They washed their robes, | 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ ‘ They 
washed’; then there is something for them to do. 
‘The blood of the Lamb’ was the means of cleansing; 
then cleansing was not the result of their own effort. — 
The cleansing is not the mere forgiveness, but includes 
also the making of the character, pure, white, lustrous. 
And the blood of the Lamb does that. For Christ by 
His death has brought to us forgiveness, and Christ by 
His imparted life brings to each of us, if we will, the 
cleansing which shall purify us altogether. Only we 
have something todo. We cannot indeed cleanse our- 
selves. There is no detergent in any soap factory in 
the world that will take the stains out of your charac- 
ter, or that will take away the guilt of the past. But — 
Jesus Christ by His death brings forgiveness, and by 
His life imparted to us, will change the set of a 
eharacter, and make us gradually pure. He has 
‘washed us from our sins in His own blood. We have 
to wash our garments, and make them ‘ white in the 
blood of the Lamb.’ He has brought the means; we 
have to employ them. If we do, if we not only trust 
Him for pardon, but accept Him for purifyng, and 
day by day honestly endeavour to secure greater and 
greater whiteness of garments, our labour will not be 
in vain. If, and only if, we do that, and see stain after 
stain gradually fade away from the garment, under 
our hands, we may humbly hope that when we die 
there will be one more added to the palm-bearing, 
white-robed multitude who stand before the Throne 
and before the Lamb. ‘Blessed are they that wash 
their robes that they may have right to the Tree of 
Life,’ and may enter in through the gate into the City. - 


THE SONG OF MOSES AND THE LAMB 


“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten 
the victory over the beast, and over his image, .. . and over the number of his 
name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harpsof God. 3. And they sing the 
song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.’—REv. xv. 2, 3. 
THE form of this vision is moulded partly by the cir- 
cumstances of the Seer, and partly by reminiscences 
of Old Testament history. As to the former, it can 
scarcely be an accident that the Book of the Revelation 
abounds with allusions to the sea. We are never far 
from the music of its waves, which broke around the 
rocky Patmos where it was written. And the ‘sea of 
glass mingled with fire’ is but a photograph of what 
John must have seen on many a still morning, when 
the sunrise came blushing over the calm surface; or on 
many an evening when the wind dropped at sundown, 
and the sunset glow dyed the watery plain with a 
fading splendour.—Nor is the allusion to Old Testament 
history less obvious. We cannot but recognise the 
reproduction, with modifications, of that scene when 
Moses and his ransomed people looked upon the ocean 
beneath which their oppressors lay, and lifted up their 
glad thanksgivings. So here, by anticipation, in the 
solemn pause before the judgment goes forth, there are 
represented the spirits that have been made wise by 
conquest, as gathered on the bank of that steadfast 
ocean, lifting up as of old a hymn of triumphant 
thankfulness over destructive judgments, and blending 
the song of Moses and of the Lamb, in testimony of the 
unity of spirit which runs through all the manifesta- 
tions of God’s character from the beginning to the end. 


Ever His judgments are right; ever the purpose of 
sa 


a | 


B42 REVELATION [cH.xv. 


His most terrible things is that men may know Him, 
and may love Him; and ever they who see deepest 
into the mysteries, and understand most truly the 
realities of the universe will have praise springing to 
their lips for all that God hath done. 

I. Notice the Triumphant Choir. 

‘I saw them that had gotten the victory over the 
beast and over his image, and over the number of his 
name. Now Iam not going to plunge into Apocalyp- 
tic discussions. It is no part of my business now either 
to ask or answer the question as to whether this Beast 
of the Revelation is a person or a tendency. Ido not 
eare, for my present purpose, whether, supposing it to 
be a person, an embodiment of certain tendencies, it is 
a person in the past or in the future; whether it was a 
veiled designation of the Emperor Nero, or whether it 
is a prophecy of some yet unborn human embodiment 
of transcendent wickedness. The question that I would 
ask is rather this,—_Whoever the beast is, what makes 
him a beast? Andif we will think about that, we may 
get some good out of it. What is the bestial element 
in him, whoever he be? And the answer is not far to 
find—Godless selfishness, that is ‘the mark of the beast.’ 
Wherever a human nature is self-centred, God-forget- 
ting, and, therefore, God-opposing (for whoever for- 
gets God defies Him), that nature has gone down below 
humanity, and has touched the lower level of the 
brutes. Men are so made as that they must either rise 
to the level of God or certainly go down to that of 
the animal. And wherever you see men living by 
their own fancies, for their own pleasure, in forgetful- 
ness and neglect of the sweet and mystic bonds that 
should knit them to God, there you see ‘the image of 
the beast and the number of his name.’ 


vs. 2,3] THE SONG OF MOSES 343 


But besides that godless selfishness, we may point to 
simple animalism as literally the mark of the beast. 
He who lives not by conscience and by faith, but by 
fleshly inclination and sense, lowers himself to the level 
of the instinctive brute-life, and beneath it, because he 
refuses to obey faculties which they do not possess, 
and what is nature in them is degradation in us. Look 
at the unblushing sensuality which marks many ‘re- 
spectable people’ nowadays. Look at the foul flesh- 
liness of much of popular art and poetry. Look at the 
way in which pure animal passion, the lust of the flesh, 
and the lust of the eye, and the love of good things to 
eat, and plenty to drink, is swaying and destroying 
men and women by the thousand among us. Look at 
the temptations that lie along every street in our great 
cities, for every young man, after dusk. Look at the 
thin veneer of culture over the ugliest lust. Scratch 
the gentleman, and you find the satyr. Is it much of 
an exaggeration, in view of the facts of English life 
to-day, to say that all the world wonders after and 
worships this beast ? 

Further, notice that to escape from the power of the 
beast it is needful to fight one’s way out. The language 
of my text is remarkably significant. This Apocalyptic 
writer does not mind about grammar or smoothness 
so long as he can express his ideas; and he uses a form 
of speech here that makes the hair of grammatical 
purists stand on end, because it vigorously expresses his 
thought. He calls these triumphant choristers ‘con- 
querors out of the beast,’ which implies that victory 
over him is an escape from a dominion in which the 
conquerors, before their victory, were held. They have 
fought their way, as it were, out of the land of bondage, 
and, like revolted slaves, have won their liberty, and 





844 REVELATION [OH. Xv. 


marched forth triumphant. The allusion to Israel's 
exodus is probable. ‘Egypt was glad when they de- 
parted.’ So the bondsmen of this new Pharaoh recover 
freedom by conflict, and the fruit of their victory is 

entire escape from the tyrant. 

That victory is possible. The Apocalypse shows us 
that there are two opposing Powers—this said ‘beast’ 
on the one side, and ‘the Lamb’ on the other. In the 
Seer’s vision these two divide the world between them. 
That is to say, Jesus Christ has conquered the bestial 
tendencies of our nature, the selfish godlessness which 
is apt to cast its spells and weave its chains over us all. 
The Warrior-Lamb, singular and incongruous as the 
combination sounds, isthe Victor. He conquers because 
He is the Lamb of sacrifice; He conquers because He 
is the Lamb of innocence; He conquers because He is 
the Lamb of meekness, the gentle and, therefore, the 
all-victorious. By Christ we conquer. Through faith, 
which lays hold on His power and victory, we too may 
eonquer, ‘This is the victory which overcometh the 
world, even our faith.’ 

Young men and women, may I make my appeal 
specially to you? Do not let yourselves be led away 
captives, like cattle to the shambles, by the fascinations 
and seductions of this poor, fleeting present. Keep your 
heel on the neck of the animal that is within you; take 
eare of that selfish godlessness into which we all are 
tempted to fall. Listen to the trumpet-call that ought 
to stir your hearts, and summons you to freedom and 
to victory through the blood of the Lamb. And by 
humbly clasping Him as your Sacrifice, your Leader, . 
and your Power, enrol yourselves amongst those who, 
in His own good time, shall come victorious out from 
the beast and from his image. . 


vs. 2, 3] THE SONG OF MOSES B45 


II. Still further, notice the position of this victorious 
chorus. 

‘I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; 
and they stand on the sea of glass.’ Of course the pro- 
priety of the image, as well as the force of the original 
language, suggests at once that by ‘on the sea of glass’ 
here, we must understand, on the firm bank by its side. 
As Moses and the ransomed hosts stood on the shore 
of the Red Sea, so these conquerors are represented as 
standing on the safe beach, and looking out upon this 
sea of glass mingled with fire, which, calm, crystal, 
clear, stable, and yet shot through and through with 
the red lines of retributive judgment, sleeps above the 
buried oppressors. 

Observe that besides its picturesque appropriateness 
and its historical allusion, this sea of glass has a dis- 
tinct symbolical meaning. We find it appearing also 
in the great vision in the fourth chapter, where the 
Seer beholds the normal and ideal order of the universe, 
which is—the central throne, the ‘Lamb that was slain’ 
in the interspace between the Throne and the creatures 
as mediator; and round about, the four living beings, 
who represent the fulness of creation, and the four- 
and-twenty elders, who represent the Church in the 
Old and the New Covenants as one whole. Then fol- 
lows, ‘before the Throne was a sea of glass,’ which 
cannot be any part of the material creation, and 
seems to have but one explanation, and that is that 
it means the aggregate of the Divine dealings. ‘Thy 
judgments are a mighty deep.’ ‘Oh! the depth of 
the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge 
of God; how unsearchable are His judgments and 
His ways past finding out.’ Such a signification fits 
precisely our present passage, for the sea here repre- 


346 REVELATION (cH. xv. 


sents that beneath which the tyrant lies buried for 
evermore. 

That great ocean of the judgment of God is erystal- 
line—clear though deep. Does it seem sotous? Ah! 
we stand before the mystery of God's dealings, often 
bewildered, and not seldom reluctant to submit. The 
perplexity arising from their obscurity is often almost 
torture, and sometimes leads men into Atheism, or 
something like it. And yet here is the assurance that 
that sea is crystal clear, and that if we cannot look to 
its lowest depths, that is not because there is any mud 
or foulness there, but partly because the light from 
above fails before it reaches the abysses, and partly 
because our eyes are uneducated to search its depths. 
In itself it is transparent, and it rises and falls without 
‘mire or dirt, like the blue Mediterranean on the marble 
cliffs of the Italian coast. If it is clear as far as the eye 
can see, let us trust that beyond the reach of the eye 
the clearness is the same. 

And it is a crystal ocean as being calm. They who 
stand there have gotten the victory and bear the image 
of the Master. By reason of their conquest, and by 
reason of their sympathy with Him they see that what 
to us, tossing upon its surface, appears such a troubled 
and tempestuous ocean, as calm and still. As from 
some height, looked down upon, the ocean seems a 
watery plain, and all the agitation of the billows has 
subsided into a gentle ripple on the surface, so to them 
looking down upon the sea that brought them thither, 
it is quiet—and their vision, not ours, is the true one. 

It is a ‘sea of glass mingled with fire.’ Divine acts 
of retribution as it were flash through it, if I may so 
say, like those streaks of red that are seen in Venice 
glass, or like some ocean smitten upon the one side of 


_ 


vs. 2,3] THE SONG OF MOSES 847 


every wave by a fiery sunlight, while the other side of 
each is dark. So through that great depth of God’s 
dealings there flashes the fire of retribution. They 
who have conquered the animal, the godless self, see 
into the meaning and the mercifulness of God’s dealings 
with the world; and we here, in the measure in which 
we have become victors over the rude animalism and 
the more subtle selfishness that tend to rule us all, and 
in the measure in which we bear the image of Jesus 
Christ, and therefore have come into sympathy with 
Him, may come to discern with some clearer under- 
standing, and to trust with more unfaltering faith, the 
righteousness and the mercy of all that God shall do. 

III. Lastly, notice the occasion of the song, and the 
song itself. 

‘They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb.’ The 
Song of Moses was a song of triumph over destructive 
judgment; the Song of the Lamb, says the text, is set 
on the same key. The one broad, general lesson to be 
drawn from this, is one on which I have no time to 
touch, viz., the essential unity, in spite of all superficial 
diversities, of the revelation of God inthe Old Covenant 
by law and miracle and retributive acts, and the reve- 
lation of God in the New Covenant by the Cross and 
Passion of Jesus Christ. Men pit the Old Testament 
against the New; the God of the Old Testament against 
the God of the New. They sometimes tell us that 
there is antagonism. Modern teachers are wanting us 
to deny that the Old is the foreshadowing of the New, 
and the New the fulfilment of the Old. My text asserts, 
in opposition to all such errors, the fruitful principle 
' of the fundamental unity of the two; and bids us find 
in the one the blossom and in the other the fruit, and 
declares that the God who brought the waters of the 


348 REVELATION (cH. xv. 


ecean over the oppressors is the God that has mercy 
upon all, in Jesus Christ, His dying Son. 

And there is another principle here, upon which I 
need not do more than touch, for I have already antici- 
pated much that might have been said about it, and 
that is the perfect harmony of the retributive acts 
of God’s destructive dealings in this world, and the 
highest conception of His love and merey which the 
gospel brings us. ‘When the wicked perish,’ says one 
of the old proverbs, ‘there is shouting.’ And so there 
ought to be. When some hoary oppression that has 
been deceiving mankind for centuries, with its instru- 
ments and accomplices, is swept off the face of the 
earth, the more men have entered into the meaning of 
Jesus Christ’s mission and work, and the more they 
feel the pitying indignation which they ought to feel 
at seeing men led away by evil, and made miserable by 
oppression, the more they will rejoice. God's dealings 
are meant to manifest His character, and that in order 
that all men may knowand love Him. We may, there- 
fore, be sure, and keep firm hold of the confidence, that 
whatever He doeth, however the methods may seem 
to vary, comes from one unalterable and fixed motive, 
and leads to one unalterable and certain end. The 
motive is His own love; the end the glory of His Name, 
in the love and knowledge of men whose life and 
blessedness depend on their knowing and loving Him. 

So, dear friends, do not let us be too swift in saying 
that this, that, and the other thing are inconsistent 
with the highest conceptions of the Divine character, 
I believe, as heartily as any man can believe, that God 
has put His witness in our consciences and minds, and 
that all His dealings will comply with any test that 
man’s reason and man’s conscience and man’s heart 


vs. 2, 3] THE SONG OF MOSES 349 


ran subject them to. Only we have not got all the 
materials; we look at half-finished work; our eyes are 
not quite so educated as that we can pronounce infal- 
libly, on seeing a small segment of a circle, what are its 
diameter and its sweep. 

I am always suspicious of that rough-and-ready way | 
of settling questions about God’s revelation, when a 
man says: ‘I cannot accept this or that because it con- 
tradicts my conception of the Divine nature.’ Unless 
you are quite sure that your conceptions are infallibly 
accurate, unless you deny the possibility of their being 
educated, you must admit that agreement with them 
is but a leaden rule. And it seems to me a good deal 
wiser, and more accordant with the modesty which 
becomes us, to be cautious in pronouncing what does 
or does not befit God to do, and, until we reach that 
loftier point of vision, where being higher up we can 
see deeper down, to say ‘the Judge of all the earth 
must do right. If He does this, then it is right.’ At 
any rate let us lay hold of the plain truth: ‘O Lord! 
Thou preservest man and beast, and then we may 
venture to say, ‘Thy judgments are a mighty deep,’ and 
beneath that deepest depth, as the roots of the hills 
beneath the ocean, is God’s righteousness, which is like 
the great mountains, 

The last thought that I would suggest is that, 
according to the teaching of my text, we may take that 
old, old story of the ransomed slaves and the baffled 
oppressor and the Divine intervention and the over- 
whelming ocean, as prophecy full of radiant hope for 
the world. That is how it is used here. Pharaoh is 
the beast, the Red Sea is this ‘sea of glass mingled 
with fire,’ the ransomed Israelites are those who have 
conquered their way out of the dominion of the beast, 


350 REVELATION (cH. XxI. 


and the song of Moses and of the Lamb is a song par- 
allel to the cadences of the ancient triumphant chorus, 
and celebrating the annihilation of that power which 
drew the world away from God. So we may believe 
that as Israel stood on the sands, and saw the Egyp- 
tians dead on the seashore, humanity will one day, 
delivered from all its bestiality and its selfishness, lift 
up a song of thanksgiving to the conquering King who 
has drowned its enemies in the depths of His own 
righteous judgments. 

And as for the world, so for individuals. If you take 
the Beast for your Pharaoh and your task-master, you 
will ‘sink’ with him ‘like lead in the mighty waters.’ 
If you take the Lamb for your sacrifice and your King, 
He will break the bonds from off your arms, and lift 
the yoke from your neck, and lead you all your lives 
long; and you will stand at last, when the eternal 
morning breaks, and see its dawn touch with golden 
light the calm ocean, beneath which your oppressors 
lie buried for ever, and will lift up glad thanksgivings 
to Him who has washed you from your sins in His own 
blood, and made you victors over ‘the beast, and his 
image, and the number of his name.’ 


THE NEW JERUSALEM ON THE NEW EARTH 


‘And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the firat 
earth were passed away; and there was no moresea. 2. And I John saw the holy 
eity, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband. 3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they 
shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4. And 
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former 
things are passed away. 5. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make 
all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faith- 
ful. 6. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of 


vs, 1-7; 22-27] THE NEW JERUSALEM 851 


life freely. 7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God, 
and He shall be My son. ... 22. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God 
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23. And the city had no need of the 
sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the 
Lamb isthe light thereof. 24. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk 
in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into 
it. 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no 
night there. 26. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 
27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatso- 
ever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the 
Lamb's book of life.’—RrEv. xxi. 1-7 ; 22-27. 


HE ‘new Jerusalem’ can be established only under a 
‘new heaven ’and on a ‘new earth.’ The Seer naturally 
touches on these before he describes it. And the fact 
that they come into view here as supplying the field 
for it makes the literal interpretation of their meaning 
the more probable. If ‘a new heaven and a new 
earth’ means a renovated condition of humanity, what 
difference is there between it and the new Jerusalem 
planted in it? We have to remember the whole stream 
of Old and New Testament representation, according 
to which the whole material creation is ‘subject to 
vanity, and destined for a deliverance. Modern 
astronomy has seen worlds in flames in the sky, and 
passing by a fiery change into new forms; and the 
possibility of the heavens being dissolved, the elements 
melted with fervent heat, and a new heavens and new 
earth emerging, cannot be disputed. In what sense 
are they ‘new’? ‘New’ here, as the application of it 
to Jerusalem may show, does not mean just brought 
into existence, but renovated, made fresh, and implies, 
rather than denies, the fact of previous existence. 
So, throughout Scripture, the re-constitution of the 
material world, by which it passes from the bondage 
of corruption into ‘the liberty of the glory of the 
children of God’ is taught, and the final seat of the 
city of God is set forth as being, not some far-off, misty 
heaven in space, but ‘that new world which is the old.’ 


352 REVELATION (on. xxr. 4 


‘And the sea is no more’ probably is to be taken in a 
symbolic sense, as shadowing forth the absence of 
unruly power, of mysterious and hostile forces, of 
estranging gulfs of separation. Into this renovated 
world the renovated city floats down from God. It 
has been present with Him, before its manifestation on 
earth, as all things that are to be manifested in time 
dwell eternally in the Divine mind, and as it had been 
realised in the person of the ascended Christ. When 
He comes down from heaven again, the city comes with 
Him. It is the ‘new Jerusalem,’ inasmuch as the ideas 
which were partially embodied in the old Jerusalem 
find complete and ennobled expression in it. The 
perfect state of perfect humanity is represented by 
that society of God’s servants, of which the ancient 
Zion was a symbol. In it all the glowing stream of 
prophecy dealing with the ‘bridal of the earth and of 
the sky,’ the marriage of perfect manhood with the 
perfect King, is fulfilled. . 

II. The vision is supplemented by words explanatory 
to the Seer of what he beheld (vs. 3, 4), and all turns 
on two great thoughts—the blessed closeness of union 
now perfected and made eternal between God and 
men, and the consequent dawning of a new, unsetting 
day in which all human ills shall be swept away. The 
former promise is cast in Old Testament mould, as are 
almost all the symbols and prophecies of this Book of 
Revelation. In outward form the tabernacle had stood 
in the centre of the wilderness encampment, and in 
the symbol of the Shekinah, God had dwelt with Israel, 
and they had been, in name, and by outward separation 
and consecration, His people. In the militant state of 
the Chureh on the old earth, God had dwelt with His 
people in reality, but with, alas! many a break in the 


vs. 1-7; 22-27] THE NEW JERUSALEM 353 


intercourse caused by His people defiling the temple. 
But in that future all that was symbol shall be spiritual 
reality, and there will be no separation between the 
God who tabernacles among men and the men in whom 
He dwells. The mutual relation of possession of each 
other shall be perfect and perpetual. That is the 
brightest hope for us, and from it all other blessedness 
flows. His presence drives away all evils, as the risen 
moon clears the sky of clouds. How can sorrow, or 
erying, or pain, or death, live where He is, as He will 
be in the perfected city? The undescribable future is 
best described by the negation of all that is sad and 
a foe to life. Reverse the miseries of earth, and you 
know something of the joys of heaven. But begin 
with God's presence, or you will know nothing of their 
most joyful joy. 

III. The great voice speaks again, proclaiming the 
guarantees of the vision, and the conditions of posses- 
_ sing its fruition (vs. 5-7). How can we be sure that 
these radiant hopes are better than delusions, lights 
thrown on the black curtain of the unknown future by 
the reflection of our own imaginations? Only because 
‘He that sitteth on the throne, and is therefore 
sovereign over all things, has declared that He will 
_ ‘make all things new.’ His power and faithful word 
_ are the sole guarantees. Therefore seers may write, 
and we may read, and be sure that when heaven and 
earth pass away His word shall not only not pass away, 
_ but bring the new heavens and the newearth. So sure 

is the fulfilment, that already, to the divine mind, these 
things ‘are come to pass.’ Faith may share in the 
divine prerogative of seeing things that are not as 
_ though they were, and make the future present. He 
_ who is Alpha, the beginning, from whom are all things, 
Z 



























354 REVELATION (cH. xxx 


is Omega, the end, to whom are all things. There lies 
the security that the drift of the universe is towards — 
God, its source, and that at last man, who came from 
God, will come back to God, and Eden be surpassed by 
the new Jerusalem. 7 

The conditions of entering the city are gathered up 
in words which recall many strains of prophecy and 
promise. Thirst is the condition of drinking of the 
water of life—as John the Evangelist delights to tell 
that Jesus said by the well at Samaria and in the 
temple court. Conflict and victory make His children 
heirs of these things, as the Christ had spoken by the 
Spirit to the churches. The Christian victory perfects 
the paternal and filial relation between God and us. 
And all three promises are but variations of the 
answer to the question: How can I become a citizen of 
that city of God? 

IV. A fuller description, highly symbolical in colour- 
ing, of the city, comes next (vs. 22-27), on which space 
will only allow us to remark that we have, first, two 
representations, in each of which the city’s glory is 
expressed by the absence from it of a great good, 
occasioned by the presence of a greater, of which the 
lesser was but a shadowy similitude. There is no 
temple, no outward shrine, no place of special com- 
munion, no dependence on externals, because th 
communion with God and the Lamb is perfect, con- 
tinuous, spiritual. There is no sun, moon, nor artificial 
light, for far brighter than their feeble beams is the 
light in which the citizens see light. That light is 
perpetual, and no night ever darkens the sky. at 
light draws all men to it. Possibly the Seer thinks c 
kings and nations as still subsisting, but more probably : 
he carries over the features of the old earth into the 


vs. 1-7; 22-27] NO MORE SEA 855 


new, in order to express the great hope that all shall 
be drawn to the light, and royalties and nations be 
merged in citizenship. One solemn word limits the 
universality of the vision. Nothing excludes but 
uncleanness, but that does exclude. The roll of citizens 
is the Lamb’s book of life, and we may all have our 
names written there. Only we must be pure, thirsty 
for the water of life, and fight and conquer through 
Jesus. 


NO MORE SEA 


* And there was no more sea.’—REv. xxL L 


‘I Joun,’ says the Apocalypse at its commencement, 
_ ‘was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the testimony 
of Jesus.’ In this, the one prophetic book of the New 
Testament, we find the same fact that meets us in the 
old prophecies, that the circumstances of the prophet 
colour, and become the medium for, the representation 
of the spiritual truths that he has to speak. All 
through the book we hear the dash of the waves. 
There was ‘a sea of fire mingled with glass before the 
throne. The star Wormwood fell ‘upon the sea.’ 
Out of the sea the beast rises. When the great angel 
would declare the destruction of Babylon, he casts a 
mighty stone into the ocean, and says, ‘Thus suddenly 
shall Babylon be destroyed.’ And when John hears 
the voice of praise of the redeemed, it is ‘like the voice 
of many waters, as well as like the voice of ‘ harpers 
harping on their harps.’ And then, when there dawns 
at the close of the vision, the bright and the blessed 
time which has yet to come, the ‘new heavens and the 
new earth’ are revealed to him; and that sad and 


356 REVELATION (cH. XxI. 


solitary and estranging ocean that raged around his 
little rock sanctuary has passed away for ever. I sup- 
pose I need not occupy your time in showing that this — 
is a symbol; that it does not mean literal fact at all; 
that itis not telling us anything about the geography of 
a future world, but that it is the material embodiment — 
of a great spiritual truth. 

Now what is meant by this symbol is best ascertained | 
by remembering how the sea appears in the Old Testa-_ 
ment. The Jew was not a sailor. All the references 
in the Old Testament, and especially in the prophets, 
to the great ocean are such as a man would make who 
knew very little about it, except from having looked 
at it from the hills of Judea, and having often won- | 
dered what might be lying away out yonder at the 
point where sky and sea blended together. There are 
three main things which it shadows forth in the Old 
Testament. It is a symbol of mystery, of rebellious 
power, of perpetual unrest. And it is the promise of 
the cessation of these things which is set forth in that 
saying, ‘There was no more sea. There shall be no 
more mystery andterror. There shall be no more ‘the 
floods lifting up their voice, and the waves dashing 
with impotent foam against the throne of God. 
There shall be no more the tossing and the tumult of 
ehanging circumstances, and no more the unrest and 
disquiet of a sinful heart. There shall be the ‘new 
heavens and the new earth.’ The old humanity will be 
left, and the relation to God will remain, deepened 
glorified and made pure. Butall that is sorrowful 
all that is rebellious, all that is mysterious and all 
is unquiet, shall have passed away for ever. 

I. Let us then, by way of illustrating this great and 
blessed promise, consider it first as the revelation of a 


: 




















v. 1] NO MORE SEA B57 


future in which there shall be no more painful 
mystery. 

‘Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great 
waters, and Thy footsteps are not known. ‘Thy 
judgments are a mighty deep.’ ‘O the depth of the 
riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of 
God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His 
ways past finding out!’ Such is the prevailing tone of 
expression when the figure appears either in the Old or 
in the New Testament. 

Most naturalisit. There are, too, sources of obscurity 
there. We look out upon the broad ocean, and faraway 
it seems to blend withair and sky. Mists come up over 
its surface. Suddenly there rises on the verge of the 
horizon a white sail that was not there a moment ago; 
and we wonder, as we look out from our hills, what 
may be beyond these mysterious waters. And to these 
ancient peoples there were mysteries which we do not 
feel. Whither should they come, if they were to venture 
on its untried tides? And then, what lies in its sun- 
less caves that no eyes have seen? It swallows up life 
and beauty and treasure of every sort, and engulfs 
them all in its obstinate silence. They go down in the 
mighty waters and vanish as they descend. What 
would it be if these were drained off? What revela- 
tions—wild sea-valleys and mountain-gorges; the dead 
that are in it, the power that lies there, all powerless 
now, the wealth that has been lostinit! What should 
we see if depth and distance were annihilated, and we 
beheld what there is out yonder, and what there is 
down there? 

And is not our life, brethren, ringed round in like 
manner with mystery? And,alas! wherever to a poor 
human heart there is mystery, there will be terror. 


358 REVELATION (cH. XxI. 


The unknown is ever the awful. Where there is not 
certain knowledge, imagination works to people the 
waste places with monsters. There is a double limita- 
tion of our knowledge. Thereare mysteries that come — 
from the necessary limitation of our faculties; and 
there are mysteries that come from the incompleteness ~ 
of the revelation which God has been pleased to make. — 
The eye is weak and the light is dim. There is much — 
that lies beyond the horizon which our eyes cannot — 
reach. There is much that lies covered by the deeps, 
which our eyes could reach if the deeps were away. 
We live—the wisest of us live—having great questions 
wrestling with us like that angel that wrestled with the 
patriarch in the darkness till the morning broke. We 
learn so little but our own ignorance, and we know so 
little but that we know nothing. There are the hard 
and obstinate knots that will not be untied; we bend 
all our faculties to them, and think they are giving a 
little bit, and they never give; and we gnaw at them, © 
like the viper at the file, and we make nothing of it, 
but blunt our teeth! 

Oh! to some hearts here, surely this ought to come 
as not the least noble and precious of the thoughts of 
what that future life is—‘ there shall be no more sea’; 
and the mysteries that come from God’s merciful limi- 
tation of our vision, and some of the mysteries tha 
come from God's wise and providential interposition 
of obstacles to our sight, shall have passed away. Itis 
no dream, my brethren! Why, think how the fact 
dying will solve many a riddle! how much more 
shall know by shifting our position! ‘There must 
wisdom with great Death,’ and he ‘keeps the keys of 
all the creeds.’ Try to conceive how some dear one — 
that was beside us but a moment ago, perhaps vel 


we 




















v.1) NO MORE SEA B59 


little conscious of his own ignorance, and knowing but 
little of God’s ways, thinking as we did, and speaking 
as we did, and snared with errors as we were, has 
grown at a bound into full stature, and how a flood of 
new knowledge and Divine truth rushes into the heart 
the moment it passesthe grave! If they were to speak 
to us, perhaps we should not understand their new 
speech, so wise have they become who have died. 
What mysteries have passed into light for them? I 
know not. Who can tell what strange enlargement 
of faculty this soul of ours is capable of? Who can 
tell how much of our blindness comes from the flesh 
that clogs us, from the working of the animal nature 


_ that isso strong in us? Who can tell what unknown 


resources and what possibilities of new powers there 
lie all dormant and unsuspected in the beggar on the 
dunghill, and in the idiot in the asylum? This, at 
least, we are sure of: we shall ‘know, even as also we 
areknown. God will not be fathomed, but God will be 
known. God will be incomprehensible, but there will 
be no mystery in God, except that most blessed mystery 
of feeling that the fulness of His nature still surpasses 


_ our comprehension. Questions that now fill the whole 


horizon of our minds will have shrunk away into a 
mere point, or been answered by the very change of 
position. How much of the knowledges of earth will 


_ have ceased to be applicable, when the first light-beam 











| 


of heaven fallsuponthem! Those problems which we 
think so mysterious—why God is doing this or that 
with us and the world; what is the meaning of this 
and the other sorrow—what will have become of these ? 
We shall look back and see that the bending line was 
leading straight as an arrow-flight, home to the centre, 
and that the end crowns and vindicates every step of 


























360 REVELATION (cH. XxI. 


the road. Something of the mystery of God will have 
been resolved, for man hath powers undreamed of yet, 
and ‘ we shall see Him as He is.’ Much of the mystery 
of man, and of man’s relation to God, will have ceased ; 
for then we shall understand all the way, when we 
have entered into the true sanctuary of God. 

Men that love to know, let me ask you, where do you 
get the fulfilment, often dreamed of, of your desires, 
except here? Set this before you, as the highest truth 
for us: Christ is the beginning of all wisdom on earth. 
Starting thence I can hope to solve the remaining 
mysteries when I stand at last, redeemed by the blood 
of the Lamb, in the presence of the great light of 
God. 

Not that we shall know everything, for that were to 
cease to be finite. And if ever the blasphemous boast 
come true that tempted man once, ‘ Ye shall be as gods, 
knowing good and evil,’ there were nothing left for the 
soul that was filled with all knowledge but to lie down 
and pant its last. Itneeds, by our very nature, and for 
our blessedness, that there should be much unknown. 
It needs that we should ever be pressing forward. Only, 
the mysteries that are left will have no terror nor pain 
in them. ‘There shall be no more sea,’ but we shal 
climb ever higher and higher up the mountain of God 
and as we climb see farther and farther into the blesse¢ 
valleys beyond, and ‘shall know, even as we 
known.’ 

II. Secondly, the text tells us of a state that is te 
come, when there shall be no more rebellious power 
In the Old Testament the floods are often compare¢ 
with the rage of the peoples, and the rebellion of mar 
against the Will of God. ‘The floods have lifted 
O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice. The Le 


v1] NO MORE SEA 861 


on high is mightier than the noise of many waters ; 
yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.’ ‘Thou stillest 
the noise of the waves, and the tumult of the people.’ 
In like manner that symbolic reference surely supplies 
one chief meaning of Christ’s miracle of stilling the 
tempest; the Peace-bringer bringing to peace the 
tumults of men. Here, then, the sea stands as the 
emblem of untamed power. It is lashed into yeasty 
foam, and drives before it great ships and huge stones 
like bulrushes, and seems to have a savage pleasure in 
eating into the slow-corroding land, and covering the 
beach with its devastation. 

‘There shall be no more sea.’ God lets people work 
against His kingdom in this world. It is not to be 
always so, says my text. The kingdom of God 7s in the 
earth, and the kingdom of God admits of opposition. 
Strange! But the opposition, even here on earth, all 
comes to nothing. ‘Thou art mightier than the noise 
of many waters ’; the floods ‘ have lifted up their voice’ ; 
but Thou ‘ sittest upon the floods, yea, Thou sittest king 
for ever.’ Yes, it is an experience repeated over and 
over again, in the history of individuals and in the 
history of the world. Men, fancying themselves free, 
resolved to be rebellious, get together and say, mutter- 
ingly at first, and then boldly and loudly, ‘Let us break 
His bands asunder, and cast away His cords from us.’ 
And God sits in seeming silence in His heavens, and 
they work on, and the thing seems to be prospering, 
and some men’s hearts begin to fail them forfear. The 
great Armada comes in its pride across the waters— 
and the motto that our England struck upon its medal, 
when that proud fleet was baffled, serves for the 
epitaph over all antagonism to God’s kingdom, ‘The 
Lord blew upon them, and they were scattered.’ The 


362 ~REVELATION -(CH. XxXI. 


tossing sea, that rages against the will and purpose of 
the Lord, what becomes of all its foaming fury ? Why, 
this becomes of it—the ark of God ‘ moves on the face 
of the waters,’ and though wild tempests howl to beat 
it from its course, yet beneath all the surface confusion 
and commotion there is, as in the great mid-ocean, a 
silent current that runs steady and strong, and it 
carries the keel that goes deep enough down to rest in 
it, safely to its port. Men may work against God’s 
kingdom, the waves may rave and rage; but beneath 
them there is a mighty tidal sweep, and God's purposes 
are wrought out, and God's ark comes to ‘its desired 
haven,’ and all opposition is nugatory at the last. 

But there comes a time, too, when there shall be no 
more violence of rebellious wills lifting themselves 
against God. Our text is a blessed promise that, in 
that holy state to which the Apocalyptic vision carries 
our longing hopes, there shall be the cessation of all 
strife against our best Friend, of all reluctance to wear 
His yoke whose yoke brings rest to the soul. The 
opposition that lies in all our hearts shall one day be 
subdued. The whole consent of our whole being shall 
yield itself to the obedience of sons, to the service of 
love. The wild rebellious power shall be softened into 
peace, and won to joyful acceptance of His law. In all 
the regions of that heavenly state, there shall be no 
jarring will, no reluctant submission. Its ‘solemn 
troops and sweet societies’ shall move in harmonious 
consent of according hearts, and circle His throne in 
continuousness of willing fealty. There shall be One 
will in heaven. ‘There shall be no more sea’; for 
‘His servants serve Him,’ and the noise of the waves 
has died away for ever. 

Before I pass on, let me appeal to you, my friend, on 


——e ee 


v. 1] NO MORE SEA 863 


this matter. Here is the revelation for us of the utter 
hopelessness and vanity of all opposition to God. Oh! 
what a thought that is, that every life that sets itself 
against the Lord is a futile life, that it comes to nothing 
at last, that none hardens himself against God and 
prospers! It is true on the widest scale. It is true on 
the narrowest. It istrue about all those tempests that 
have risen up against God’s Church and Christ’s Gospel, 
like ‘ waves of the sea foaming out their own shame,’ 
and never shaking the great rock that they break 
against. And it is true about all godless lives; about 
every man who carries on his work, except in loving 
obedience to his Father in heaven. There is one 
power in the world, and none else. When all is played 
out, and accounts are set right at the end, you will find 
that the power that seemed to be strong, if it stood 
against God, was weak as water and has done nothing, 
and is nothing! Do not waste your lives in a work 
that is self-condemned to be hopeless! Rather ally 
yourselves with the tendencies of God’s universe, and 
do the thing which will last for ever, and live the life 
that has hope of fruit that shall remain. Submit 
yourselves to God! Love Christ! Do His will! Put 
your faith in the Saviour to deliver you from your 
sins; and when the wild tossing of that great ocean of 
ungodly power and rebellious opposition is all hushed 
down into dead silence, you and your work will last 
and live hard by the stable throne of God. 

III. Lastly, the text foretells a state of things in which 
there is no more disquiet and unrest. The old, old 
figure which all the world, generation after generation 
in its turn, has spoken, is a Seriptural one as well, and 
enters into the fulness of the meaning of this passage 
before us. Life is a voyage over a turbulent sea; 















364 REVELATION (on. xx, 


changing circumstances come rolling after each other, 
like the undistinguishable billows of the great ocean. 
Tempests and storms rise. There is wearisome sailing, 
no peace, but ‘ever climbing up the climbing wave.” 
That is life! But for all that, friends, there isan end 
to it some day; and it is worth while for us to think © 
about our ‘island home, far, far beyond the sea.’ 
Surely some of us have learned the weariness of this 
changeful state, the weariness of the work and voyage 
of this world. Surely some of us are longing to find 
anchorage whilst the storm lasts, and a haven at the 
end. There is one, if only you will believe it, and set 
yourselves towards it. There is an end to all ‘the 
weary oar, the weary wandering fields of barren foam.’ 
On the shore stands the Christ; and there is rest there. 
There is no more sea, but unbroken rest, unchanging ; 
blessedness, perpetual stability of joy, and love in the 
Father's house. Are we going there? Are we living 
for Christ? Are we putting our confidence in the 
Lord Jesus? Then, ‘He brings us to the desired 
haven.’ 4 
One thing more: not only does unrest come from the 
chaos of changing circumstances, but besides that, there 
is another source of disquiet, which this same symbol 
sets forth for us. ‘The wicked is like the troubled sea 
which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.’ 
That restless, profitless working of the great homeless, 
hungry, moaning ocean—what a picture it is of the heart 
of a man that has no Christ, that has no God, that has 
no peace by pardon! A soul all tossed with its own 
boiling passion, a soul across which there howl great 
gusts of temptation, a soul which works and brings 
forth nothing but foam and mire! Unrest, perpetual 
unrest is the lot of every man that is not God’s child. 


v1] NO MORE SEA 865 


Some of you know that. Well, then, think of one 
picture. A little barque pitching in the night, and one 
figure rises quietly up in the stern, and puts outa re- 
buking hand, and speaks one mighty word, ‘ Peace! be 
still’ And the word was heard amid all the hurly- 
burly of the tempest, and the waves crouched at His 
feet like dogs totheir master. Itis no fancy, brethren, 
it isa truth. Let Christ speak to your hearts, and there 
is peace and quietness. And if He do that, then your 
experience will be like that described in the grand old 
Psalm, ‘ Though the waters roar and be troubled, and 
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, 
yet will we not fear, for the city stands fast, in spite 
of the waves that curl round its lowest foundations. 
Death, death itself, will be but the last burst of the ex- 
piring storm, the last blast of the blown-out tempest. 
And then, the quiet of the green inland valleys of our 
Father’s land, where no tempest comes any more, nor 
the loud winds are ever heard, nor the salt sea is ever 
seen; but perpetual calm and blessedness; all mystery 
gone, and all rebellion hushed and silenced, and all un- 
rest at an end for ever! ‘No more sea,’ but, instead of 
that wild and yeasty chaos of turbulent waters, there 
shall be ‘the river that makes glad the city of God,’ 
the river of water of life, that ‘proceeds out of the 
throne of God and of the Lamb.’ 


THE CITY, THE CITIZENS, AND THE KING 


‘ And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clearas crystal, proceeding out 
of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2. In the midst of the street of it, and on 
either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of 
fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the 
healing of the nations. 3. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of 
God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: 4. And they 
shall see His face; and His name shal! be in their foreheads. 5. And there shall 
be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord 
God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever andever. 6. And He said 
untome, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets 
sent His angel to shew unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. 
7.-Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy 
ef this book. 8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had 
heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed 
me these things. 9. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy 
fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the 
sayings of this book: worship God. 10. And he saith unto me, Seal not the say- 
ings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. 11. He that is unjust, 
let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that 
ia righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.’— 
Rey. xxii. 1-11. 


Is the vision of the new Jerusalem to be realised in 
the present or in the future? Such features as the 
existence of ‘nations’ and ‘kings of the earth’ outside 
of it (vs. 21, 24), and leaves of the tree of life being ‘ for 
the healing of the nations,’ favour the former reference, — 
while its place in the book, after the first and second 
resurrections and the judgment and at the very end of 
the whole, seems to oblige us to hold by the latter. 
But the question must be answered in the light of the 
fact that the Christian life is one in essence in both © 
worlds, and that the difference between the conditions 
of the society of the redeemed here and there is only 
one of degree. The ‘city’ has already come down from 
heaven; its perfect form waits to be manifested. 

The passage is partly the close of that vision (vs. 1-5), 
and partly the beginning of the epilogue of the whole 
book (vs. 6-11). The closing description of the city is 


saturated with allusions to Old Testament prophecy. 
568 





vs.1-11] THE CITY, CITIZENS, AND KING 367 


It is like the finale of some great concerto, in which 
the themes that have sounded throughout it are all 
gathered up in the last majestic, melodious crash. 
Here at the farthest point to which mortal eyes are 
allowed to pierce, the ‘tree of life’ that the first of 
mortal eyes had looked on waves its branches again. 
The end has circled round to the beginning. But now 
there is no more prohibition to pluck and eat, and 
now it grows, not in a garden, but in a city where the 
perfection of human society is entered into. 

Here, on the last page of Scripture, the river, the 
music of whose ripple had been heard by Ezekiel and 
Zechariah bringing life to everything that it laved, and 
by the Psalmist making ‘glad the city of God,’ flows 
with a broader, fuller stream, and is fouled by no stains, 
but is ‘clear as crystal.’ River and tree have the same 
epithet, and bring the same gift to the citizens. All 
the blessings which Jesus gives are summed up, both 
in John’s Gospel and in the Apocalypse, as ‘life.’ The 
only true life is to live as God’s redeemed servants, and 
that life is ours here and now if we are His. It is but 
a ‘stream’ of the river that gladdens us here, the fruit 
has not yet its full flavour nor abundance. ‘It is life, 
more life, for which we pant,’ and the desire will be 
satisfied there when the river runs always full, and 
every month the fruit hangs ripe and ready to be 
dropped into happy hands from among the healing 
leaves. 

In verses 3 and 4 we pass from the city to the 
citizens. Perfect purity clothesthem all. ‘There shall 
be no more anything accursed’; that is, any unclean 
thing drawing down necessarily the divine ‘curse, and 
therefore there shall be no separation, no film of dis- 
cance between the King and the people, but ‘the throne 


368 REVELATION [cn xx, 


of God and the Lamb shall be therein.’ The seer has 
already beheld the Lamb close by the throne of God, 
but now he sees Him sharing it in indissoluble union. 
Perfect purity leads to perfect union with God and (or 
rather in) Christ, and unbroken, glad submission to His 
regal rule. And that perfect submission is the occu- 
pation and delight of all the citizens. They are His 
‘bond-servants, and their fetters are golden chains of 
honour and ornament. They ‘do Him service,’ minis- 
tering as priests, and all their acts are ‘begun, con- 
tinued, and ended in Him.’ Having been faithful over 
a few things, they are made rulers over many things, 
and are yet bond-servants, though rulers, 

In that higher service the weary schism between the 
active and the contemplative life is closed up. Mary 
and Martha end their long variance, and gazing on His 
face does not hinder active obedience, nor does doing ~ 
Him service distract from beholding His beauty. ‘His 
name shall be in their foreheads,’ conspicuous and un- 
mistakable, no longer faintly traced or often concealed, 
but flaming on their brows. They are known to be 
His, because their characters are conformed to His, 
They bear ‘ the marks of Jesus’ in complete and visible 
assimilation to Him. 

The vision closes with an echo of Old Testament pro- | 
phecy (Isaiah lx. 19). ‘No night’—perhaps the most — 
blessed of all John’s negative descriptions of the future 
state, indicating the removal for ever of all the evil and 
woe symbolised by darkness, and pointing to a state in 
which no artifices of ours are needed to brighten our 
gloom with poor, man-made candles, nor any created — 
light, though mighty and resplendent as the sun, whose 
beams fade into invisibility before the immortal radi- 
ance that pours out for ever from the throne, brighten- — 





vs.1-11] THE CITY, CITIZENS, AND KING 369 


ing every glorified face that is turned to its lustre. 
Thus seeing, serving, and being like ‘God and the Lamb, 
they, as a consequence, ‘shall reign for ever and ever, 
for they are as He is, and while He lives and reigns 
they also live and reign. 

With verse 6 begins the epilogue. An angel speaks, 
the same as in chapter i. 1—is represented as ‘signify- 
ing’ the ‘revelation’ to John. He now, as it were, sets 
his seal on his completed roll of prophecy. To dis- 
eriminate between the words of the angel and of Jesus 
is impossible. Jesus speaks through him. ‘Behold, I 
come quickly’ cannot be merely the angel’s voice. As 
in verse 12, a deeper voice speaks through his lips. 
The purpose of that solemn announcement is to impress 
on the Asiatic churches, and through them on the whole 
Church through all time, the importance of keeping 
‘the words of the prophecy of this book.’ ‘ Quickly ’— 
and yet nineteen hundred years have gone since then ? 
Yes; and during them all Jesus has been coming, and 
the words of this book have progressively been in pro- 
cess of fulfilment. 

Again, the speedy coming is enforced as a reason for 
not sealing up the prophecy, as had been commanded 
in chapter x. 4, and elsewhere in the Old Testament. 
And a very solemn thought closes our lesson—that 
there is a moment, the eve of any great ‘day of the 
Lord, when there is no more time or opportunity for 
change of moral or spiritual disposition. ‘Toolate, too 
late, ye cannot enter now.’ Let us ‘redeem the time,’ 
buy back the opportunity while yet it is within our 


grasp. 


ZA 


THE TRIPLE RAYS WHICH MAKE THE WHITE 
LIGHT OF HEAVEN 


‘. . . His servants shall serve Him: 4. And they shall see His face; and Hisname 
shall be in their foreheads.'—Rev. xxii. 3, 4. 


ONE may well shrink from taking words like these for 
a text. Their lofty music will necessarily make all 
words of ours seem thin and poor. The great things 


about which they are concerned are so high above us, 
and known to us by so few channels, that usually he 


who says least speaks most wisely about them. And ~ 


yet it cannot be but wholesome if in a reverent spirit 
of no vain curiosity, we do try to lay upon our hearts 
the impressions of the great, though they be dim, 
truths which gleam from these words. I know that to 
talk about a future life is often a most sentimental, 


vague, unpractical form of religious contemplation, — 


but there is no reason at all why it should be so. I 


wish to try now very simply to bring out the large | 


force and wonderful meaning of the words which I 


have ventured to read. They give us three elements — 


of the perfect state of man—Service, Contemplation, 
Likeness. These three are perfect and unbroken. 

I. The first element, then, in the perfect state of man 
is perfect activity in the service of God. Now the 
words of our text are remarkable in that the two 
expressions for ‘servant’ and ‘serve’ are not related 


to one another in the Greek, as they are in the English, _ 


but are two quite independent words; the former 
meaning literally ‘a slave,’ and the latter being exclu- 
sively confined in Scripture to one kind of service. It 
would never be employed for any service that a man 


did for a man; it is exclusively a religious word, and 
370 





om Ce 


vs. 3,4) WHITE LIGHT OF HEAVEN 871 


means only the service that men do for God, whether 
in specific acts of so-called worship or in the wider 
worship of daily life. So that if we have not here the 
notion of priesthood, we have one very closely approxi- 
mating towards it; and the representation is that the 
activity of the redeemed and perfected man, in the 
highest ideal condition of humanity, is an activity 
which is all worship, and is directed to the revealed 
God in Christ. 

That, then, is the first thought that we have to look 
at. Now it seems to me to be a very touching confes- 
sion of the weariness and unsatisfactoriness of life in 
general that the dream of the future which has 
unquestionably the most fascination for most men, is 
that which speaks of it as Rest. The religion which 
has the largest number of adherents in the world—the 
religion of the Buddhists—formally declares existence 
to be evil, and preaches as the highest attainable good, 
something which is scarcely distinguishable from 
annihilation. And even though we do not go so far as 
that, what a testimony it is of burdened hearts and 
mournful lives, and work too great for the feeble 
limits of our powers, that the most natural thought of 
a blessed future is as rest! It is easy to laugh at 
people for singing hymns about sitting upon green and 
flowery mounts, and counting up the labours of their 
feet: but oh! it is a tragical thought that whatsoever 
shape a life has taken, howsoever full of joy and sun- 
shine and brightness it may be, deep down in the man 
there is such an experience as that the one thing he 
wants is repose and to get rid of all the trouble and 
toil. 

Now this representation of my text is by no means 
contradictory, but it is complementary, of that other 


372 REVELATION (cH. XXII. 


one. The deepest rest and the highest activity coincide. 
They do so in God who ‘worketh hitherto’ in undis- 
turbed tranquillity; they may do so in us. The wheel 
that goes round in swiftest rotation seems to be stand- 
ing still. Work at its intensest, which is pleasurable 
work, and level to the capacity of the doer, is the 
truest form of rest. In vacuity there are stings and 
torment; it is only in joyous activity which is not 
pushed to the extent of strain and unwelcome effort 
that the true rest of man is to be found. And the two 
verses in this Book of Revelation about this matter, 
which look at first sight to be opposed to each other, 
are like the two sides of a sphere, which unite and 
make the perfect whole. ‘They rest from their labours.’ 
‘They rest not, day nor night.’ 

From their labours—yes; from toil disproportioned 
to faculty—yes! from unwelcome work—yes! from 
distraction and sorrow—yes! But from glad praise 
and vigorous service—never! day nor night. And so 
with the full apprehension of the sweetness and 
blessedness of the tranquil Heaven, we say: It is found 
only there, where His servants serve Him. Thus the 
first thought that is presented here is that of an 
activity delivered from all that makes toil on earth — 
burdensome and unwelcome; and which, therefore, is 
coincident with the deepest and most perfect repose. 

It may seem strange to think of a blessed life which 
has no effort in it, for effort is the very salt and spice 
of life here below, and one can scarcely fancy the 
perfect happiness of a spirit which never has the glow 
of warmth that comes from exercise in overcoming 
difficulties. But perhaps effort and antagonism and 
strain and trial have done their work on us when they 
have moulded our characters, and when ‘school is over 





vs.3,4) WHITE LIGHT OF HEAVEN 373 


we burn the rod’; and the discipline of joy may evolve 
nobler graces of character than ever the discipline of 
sorrow did. At all events, we have to think of work 
which also is repose, and of service in which is 
unbroken tranquillity. 

Then there is further involved in this first idea, the 
notion of an outer world, on which and in which to 
work; and also the notion of the resurrection of the 
body, in which the active spirit may abide, and through 
which it may work. 

Perhaps it may be that they who sleep in Jesus, in 
the period between the shuffling off of this mortal coil 
and the breaking of that day when they are raised 
again from the dead, are incapable of exertion in an 
outer sphere. Perhaps, it may be, that by reason of 
the absence of that glorified body of the Resurrection, 
they sleep in Jesus in the sense that they couch at the 
Shepherd’s feet within the fold until the morning 
comes, when He leads them out to new pastures. It 
may be. At all events, this we may be sure of, that if 
it be so they have no desires in advance of their 
capacities; and of this also I think we may be sure, 
that whether they themselves can come into contact 
with an external universe or not, Christ is for them in 
some measure what the body is to us here now, and 
the glorified body will be hereafter; that being absent 
from the body they are present with the Lord, and 
that He is as it were the Sensorium by which they are 
brought into contact with and have a knowledge of 
external things, so that they may rest and wait and 
have no work to do, and have no effort to put forth, 
and yet be conscious of all that befalls the loved ones 
here below, may know them in their piiction, and not 
he untouched by their tears. 


374 REVELATION (cH. xx. 


But all that is a dim region into which we have not 
any need to look. What I emphasise is, the service of 
Heaven means rest, and the service of Heaven means 
an outer universe on which, and a true bodily frame 
with which, to do the work which is delight. 

The next point is this: such service must bein a far 
higher sphere and a far nobler fashion than the service 
of earth. That is in accordance with the analogy of 
the Divine dealings. God rewards work with more 
work. The powers that are trained and exercised and 
proved in a narrower region are lifted to the higher. 
As some poor peasant-girl, for instance, whose rich 
voice has risen up in the harvest-field only for her own 
delight and that of a handful of listeners, heard by 
some one who detects its sweetness, may be carried 
away to some great city, and charm kings with her 
tones, so the service done in some little corner of this 
remote, rural province of God's universe, apprehended 
by Him, shall be rewarded with a wider platform, and 
a nobler area for work. ‘Thou hast been faithful ina 
few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.’ 
God sends forth His children to work as apprentices 
here, and when they are ‘out of their time, and have 


‘got a trade,’ He calls them home, not to let their © 


faculties rest unused, but to practise on s larger 
theatre what they have learned on earth. 

One more point must be noticed, viz., that the highest 
type of Heaven’s service must be service for other 
people. The law for Heaven can surely not be more 
selfish than the law for earth, and that is, ‘He that is 
chiefest amongst you let him be your servant. The law 
for the perfect man can surely not be different from 


the law for the Master, and the law for Him is, ‘Even — 


Christ pleased not Himself.’ The perfection of the 


| 
: 


vs.3,4) WHITE LIGHT OF HEAVEN 375 


child can surely not be different from the perfection of 
the Father, and the perfection of the Father is: ‘He 
maketh His sun to “shine,” and His blessings to come 
—on the unthankful and on the good.’ 

So then the highest service for man is the service for 
others ;—how, where, or whom, we cannot tell. We 
too may be ‘ministering spirits, sent forth to minister’ 
(Heb. i. 14), but at all events not on ourselves can our 
activities centre; and not in self-culture can be the 
highest form of our service to God. 

The last point about this first matter is simply this— 
that this highest form of human activity is all to be 
worship; all to be done in reference to Him; all to be 
done in submission to Him. The will of the man in His 
work is to be so conformed to the will of God as that, 
whatsoever the hand on the great dial points to, that 
the hand on the little dial shall point to also. Obedience 
is joy and rest. To know and to do His will is Heaven. 
It is Heaven on earth in so far as we partially attain 
to it, and when with enlarged powers and all imperfec- 
tions removed, and in a higher sphere, and without 
interruptions we do His commandments, hearkening to 
the voice of His word, then the perfect state will have 
come. Then shall we enter into the liberty of the glory 
of the children of God, when, as His slaves, we serve: 
Him in the unwearied activities done for Him, which: 
make the worship of Heaven. 

II. Next, look at the second of the elements here :— 
‘They shall see His face. Now that expression ‘seeing 
the face of God’ in Scripture seems to me to be 
employed in two somewhat different ways, according 
to one of which the possibility of seeing the face is 
affirmed, and according to the other of which it is 
denied. 


376 REVELATION (oH. xu. 


The one may be illustrated by the Divine word to 
Moses: ‘Thou canst not see My face. There shall no 
man see Me and live.’ The other may be illustrated by 
the aspiration and the confidence of one of the psalms: 
‘As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness.’ 

A similar antithesis, which is apparently a contra- 
diction, may be found in setting side by side the words — 
of our Saviour: ‘Blessed are the pure in - heart, for : 
they shall see God,’ with the words of the Evangelist: 
‘No man hath seen God at any time.’ I do not think 
that the explanation is to be found altogether in point- 
ing to the difference between present and possible 
future vision, but rather, I think, the Bible teaches what 
reason would also teach: that no corporeal vision of 
God is ever possible; still further, that no complete 
comprehension and knowledge of Him is ever possible, 
and, as I think further, that no direct knowledge of, or 
contact with, God in Himself is possible for finite man, 
either here or yonder. And the other side lies in such 
words as these, which I have already quoted: ‘Blessed — 
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ ‘As 
through a glass darkly, but then face to face.’ Where 
is the key to the apparent contradiction? Here, I 
think. Jesus Christ is the manifest God, in Him only 
do men draw near to the hidden Deity, the King In- 
visible, who dwelleth in the light that is inaccessible. 

Here on earth we see by faith, and yonder there will 
be a vision, different in kind, most real, most immediate 
and direct, not of the hidden Godhood in itself, but of 
the revealed Godhood manifest in Jesus Christ, whom 
in His glorified corporeal Manhood we shall perceive, 
with the organs of our glorified body; whom in His 
Divine beauty we shall know and love with heart and 
mind, in knowledge direct, immediate, far surpassing 

























vs. 3,4] WHITE LIGHT OF HEAVEN 377 


in degree, and different in kind from, the knowledge of 
faith which we have of Him here below. But the 
infinite Godhood that lies behind all revelations of 
Deity shall remain as it hath been through them all— 
the King invisible, whom no man hath seen or can see. 
They shall see His face in so far as they shall hold 
communion with, and through their glorified body have 
the direct knowledge of Christ, the revealed Deity. 

Whether there be anything more, I know not; I 
think there is not; but this Iam sure of, that the law 
for Heaven and the law for earth alike are, ‘ He that 
hath seen Me hath seen the Father.’ 

But there is another point I would touch upon in 
reference to this second thought of our text, viz., its 
connection with the previous representation, ‘They 
shall serve Him’—that is work in an outer sphere; 
‘they shall see His face’—that is contemplation. These 
two, the life of work and the life of devout communion 
—the Martha and the Mary of the Christian experience 
—are antagonistic here below, and it is hard to re- 
concile their conflicting, fluctuating claims and to know 
how much to give to the inward life of gazing upon 
Christ, and how much to the outward life of serving 
Him. But, says my text, the two shall be blended to- 
gether. ‘His servants shall serve Him, nor in all 
their activity shall they lose the vision of His face. 
His servants ‘shall see His face’; nor in all the 
still blessedness of their gaze upon Him shall they 
slack the diligence of the unwearied hands, or the 
speed of the willing feet. The Rabbis taught that there 
were angels who serve, and angels who praise, but the 
two classes meet in the perfected man, whose services 
shall be praise, whose praise shall be service. They go 
forth to do His will, yet are ever in the House of the 


ll i 


378 REVELATION (cH. Xx. 


Lord. They work and gaze; they gaze and work. 
Resting they serve, and serving they rest; perpetual 
activity and perpetual vision are theirs. ‘They serve 
Him, and see His face.’ 

III. The last element is, ‘His name shall be in their 
foreheads.’ That is, as I take it—a manifest likeness 
to the Lord whom they serve is the highest element in 
the perfect state of redeemed men. We hear a good deal 
in this Book of the Revelation about writing the names 
and numbers of persons and of powers upon men’s 
faces and foreheads; as for instance, you remember we 
read about the ‘number of the beast’ written upon his 
worshippers, and about ‘the name of the new Jeru- 
salem, and the name of my God’ being written as a 
special reward, ‘upon him that overcomes. The meta- 
phor, as I suppose, is taken from the old, cruel practice 
of branding a slave with the name of his master. And 
so the primary idea of this expression: ‘His slaves shall 
bear His nameupon their foreheads, is that their owner- 
ship shall be conspicuously visible to all that look. 

But there is morethan thatin it. How is the owner- 
ship to be made visible? By His name being in their — 
foreheads. What is ‘His name’? Universally in 
Scripture ‘ His name’ is His revealed character, and so 
we come to this: the perfect men shall be known to 
belong to God in Christ, because they are like Him. 
The ownership shall be proved by the likeness, and 
that likeness shall no longer be hidden in their hearts, 
no longer be difficult to make out, so blurred and 
obliterated the letters of the name by the imperfections 
of their lives and their selfishness and sin; but it shall 
flame in their foreheads, plain as the inscription on 
the high priest’s mitre that declared him to be conse- 
crated to the Lord. 


: 
: 





















vs. 3,4] WHITE LIGHT OF HEAVEN 879 


And so that lovely and blessed thought is here of a 
perfect likeness in moral character, at all events, anda 
wonderful approximation and resemblance in other 
elements of human nature to the glorified humanity 
of Jesus Christ our Lord, which shall be the token that 
we are His. 

Oh! what a contrast to the partial ownership, proved 
to be partial by our partial resemblance here on earth ! 
We say, as Christian men and women, that we bear 
His name. Is it written so that men can read it, or isit 
like the name of some person traced in letters of gas 
jets over a shop-front—half blown out by every gust 
of wind that comes? Is that the way in which His 
name is written on your heart and character? My 
brother, a possibility great and blessed opens before 
us of a nobler union with Him, acloser approximation, 
a clearer vision, a perfecter resemblance. ‘We shall 
be like Him, for we shal! see Him as He is”! 

One last word. These three elements, service, con- 
templation, likeness; these three are not different in 
kind from the elements of a Christian man’s life here. 
You can enjoy them all sitting in these pews; in the 
bustle and the hurry of your daily life, you can have 
every oneof them. If you do not enjoy them here you 
will never have them yonder. If you have never 
served anybody but yourself how shall death make 
you His servant? If all the days of your life you have 
turned away your ear when He has been saying to you 
‘Seek ye My face,’ what reason is there to expect that 
when death’s hammer smashes the glass through which 
you have seen darkly, ‘ the steady whole of that awful 
face’ will be a pleasant sight to you? If all your life 
you have been trying, as some of you men and women, 
old and young, have been trying, and are trying now, 


380 REVELATION (cH. xxIz. 


to engrave the name of the beast upon your foreheads, 
what reason have you to expect that when you pass 
out of this life the foul signs shall disappear in a 
moment, and you will bear in your brow ‘the marks 
of the Lord Jesus’ in their stead? No! No! These 
things do not happen; you have got to begin here 
as you mean to end yonder. Trust Him here and you 
will see Him there. Serve Him here and you will serve 
Him yonder. Write His new Name upon your hearts, 
and when you pass from the imperfections of life you 
will bear His name in your foreheads. 

And if you do not—I lay this upon the consciences of 
you all—if you do not you will see Christ;—and you 
will not like it! And you will bear, not the Image of 
the Heavenly, which is life, but the image of the earthy, 
which is death and hell! 


THE LAST BEATITUDE OF THE ASCENDED 
CHRIST 


‘Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the 
Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."—REv. xxii. 14. 
THE Revised Version reads: ‘Blessed are they that 
wash their robes, that they may have the right to come 
to the Tree of Life.’ 

That may seem a very large change to make, from 
‘keep His commandments,’ to ‘wash their robes,’ but in 


the Greek it is only a change of three letters in one 


word, one in the next, and two in the third. And the 


two phrases, written, look so like each other, that a 


scribe, hasty, or for the moment careless, might very 
easily mistake the one for the other. There can be no 


vy. 14] THE LAST BEATITUDE 381 


doubt whatever that the reading in the Revised Version 
is the correct one. Not only is it sustained by a great 
weight of authority, but also it is far more in accord- 
ance with the whole teaching of the New Testament 
than that which stands in our Authorised Version. 

‘Blessed are they that do His commandments, that 
they may have right to‘the Tree of Life, carries us 
back to the old law, and has no more hopeful a sound 
in it than the thunders of Sinai. If it were, indeed, 
amongst Christ’s last words to us, it would be a most 
sad instance of His ‘building again the things He had 
destroyed.’ It is relegating us to the dreary old round 
of trying to earn Heaven by doing good deeds; and I 
might almost say it is ‘making the Cross of Christ of 
none effect.’ The fact that that corrupt reading came 
so soon into the Church and has held its ground so 
long, is to me a very singular proof of the difficulty 
which men have always had in keeping themselves up 
to the level of the grand central Gospel truth: ‘Not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, but by 
His mercy, He saved us.’ 

‘Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may 
have right to the Tree of Life,’ has the clear ring of 
the New Testament music about it, and is in full accord 
with the whole type of doctrine that runs through this 
book; and is not unworthy to be almost the last word 
that the lips of the Incarnate Wisdom spoke to men 
from Heaven. So then, taking that point of view, I 
wish to look with you at three things that come plainly 
out of these words :—First, that principle that if men 
are clean it is because they are cleansed; ‘ Blessed are 
they that wash their robes.’ Secondly, Itis the cleansed 
who have unrestrained access to the source of life. 
And lastly, It is the cleansed who pass into the society 


882 REVELATION (CH. XXII. 


of the city. Now, let me deal with these three 
things :— 

First, If we are clean it is because we have been 
made so. The first beatitude that Jesus Christ spoke 
from the mountain was,‘ Blessed are the poor in spirit.’ 
The last beatitude that He speaks from Heaven is, 
‘Blessed are they that wash their robes,’ And the act 
commended in the last is but the outcome of the spirit 
extolled in the first. For they who are poor in spirit 
are such as know themselves to be sinful men; and 
those who know themselves to be sinful men are they 
who will cleanse their robes in the blood of Jesus 
Christ. 

I need not remind you, I suppose, how continually 
this symbol of the robe is used in Scripture as an ex- 
pression for moral character. This Book of the 
Apocalypse is saturated through and through with 
Jewish implications and allusions, and there can be no 
doubt whatever that in this metaphor of the cleansing 
of the robes there is an allusion to that vision that the 
Apocalyptic seer of the Old Covenant, the prophet 
Zechariah, had when he saw the high priest standing 
before the altar clad in foul raiment, and the word 
came forth, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ 
Nor need I do more than remind you how the same 
metaphor is often on the lips of our Lord Himself, 
notably in the story of the man that had not on the 
wedding garment, and in the touching and beautiful 
incident in the parable of the Prodigal Son, where > 
the exuberance of the father’s love bids them cast 
the best robe round the rags and the leanness of 
his long-lost boy. Nor need I remind you how Paul 
catches up the metaphor, and is continually referring 
to an investing and a divesting—the putting on and the 


v. 14] THE LAST BEATITUDE 888 


putting off of the new and the old man. In this same 
Book of the Apocalypse we see, gleaming all through 
it, the white robes of the purified soul: ‘They shall 
walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.’ ‘I beheld 
a great multitude, whom no man could number, who 
had washed their robes and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb,’ 

And so there are gathered up into these last words, 
all these allusions and memories, thick and clustering, 
when Christ speaks from Heaven and says, ‘ Blessed 
are they that wash their robes.’ 

Well then, I suppose we may say roughly, in our 
more modern phraseology, that the robe thus so 
frequently spoken of in Scripture answers substan- 
tially to what we call character. It is not exactly the 
man—and yet itis the man. It is the self—and yet it 
is a kind of projection and making visible of the self, 
the vesture which is cast round ‘the hidden man of 
the heart.’ 

‘This mysterious robe, which answers nearly to what 
we mean by character, is made by the wearer. 

That is a solemn thought. Every one of us carries 
about with him a mystical loom, and we are always 
weaving—weave, weave, weaving—this robe which we 
wear, every thought a thread of the warp, every action 
a thread of the weft. We weave it as the spider does 
its web, out of its own entrails, if I might so say. We 
weave it, and we dye it, and we cut it, and we stitch it, 
and then we put it on and wear it, and it sticks to us. 
Like a snail that crawls about your garden patches, 
and makes its shell by a process of secretion from out 
of its own substance, so you and I are making that 
mysterious, solemn thing that we call character, 
moment by moment. It is our own self, modified by 


384 REVELATION (cH. xxn. 


our actions. Character is the precipitate from the 
stream of conduct which, like the Nile Delta, gradually 
rises solid and firm above the parent river and confines 
its flow. 

The next step that I ask you to take is one that I 
know some of you do not like to take, and it is this: 
All the robes are foul. I do not say all are equally 
splashed, I do not say all are equally thickly spotted 
with the flesh. I do not wish to talk dogmas, I wish 
to talk experience; and I appeal to your own con- 
sciences, with this plain question, that every man and 
woman amongst us can answer if they like—Is it true 
or is it not, that the robe is all dashed with mud 
caught on the foul ways, with stains in some of us of 
rioting and banqueting and revelry and drunkenness; 
sins of the flesh that have left their mark upon the 
flesh; but with all of us grey and foul as compared 
with the whiteness of His robe who sits above us 
there ? 

Ah! would that I could bring to all hearts that are 
listening to me now, whether the hearts of professing 
Christians or no, that consciousness more deeply than 
we have ever had it, of how full of impurity and 


corruption our characters are. I do not charge you ~ 


with crimes; I do not charge you with guilt in the 
world’s eyes, but, if we seriously ponder over our past, 
have we not lived, some of us habitually, all of us far 
too often, as if there were no God at all, or as if we 
had nothing to do with Him? and is not that godless- 
ness practical Atheism, the fountain of all foulness 
from which black brooks flow into our lives, and stain 
our robes? 

The next step is, The foul robe can be cleansed. My 


text does not go any further in a statement of the 


v. 14] THE LAST BEATITUDE 385 


method, but it rests upon the great words of this Book 
of the Revelation, which I have already quoted for 
another purpose, in which we read ‘they washed their 
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ 
And the same writer, in his Epistle, has the same para- 
dox, which seems to have been, to him, a favourite 
way of putting the central Gospel truth: ‘The blood 
of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.’ John saw the 
paradox, and saw that the paradox helped to illustrate 
the great truth that he was trying to proclaim, that 
the red blood whitened the black robe, and that in its 
full tide there was a limpid river of water of life, 
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the Cross of 
Christ. 

Guilt can be pardoned, character can be sanctified. 
Guilt can be pardoned! Men say: ‘No! We livein a 
universe of inexorable laws; “ What a man soweth 
that he must also reap.” If he has done wrong he 
must inherit the consequences,’ 

But the question whether guilt can be pardoned or 
not has only to do very remotely with consequences. 
The question is not whether we live in a universe of 
inexorable laws, but whether there is anything in the 
universe but the laws; for forgiveness is a personal 
act, and has only to do secondarily and remotely with 
the consequences of a man’s doings. So that, if we 
believe in a personal God, and believe that He has got 
any kind of living relation to men at all, we can 
believe—blessed be His name!—in the doctrine of 
forgiveness; and leave the inexorable laws full scope 
to work, according as His wisdom and His mercy may 
provide. For the heart of the Christian doctrine of 
pardon does not touch those laws, but the heart of it is 
this: ‘O Lord! Thou wast angry with me, but Thine 

2B 


886 REVELATION (cH. XXIr. 


anger is turned away, Thou hast comforted me!’ So 
guilt may be pardoned. | 

Character may be sanctified and elevated. Why not, 
if you can bring a sufficiently strong new force to bear 
upon it? And you can bring such a force, in the 
blessed thought of Christ’s death for me, and in the 
gift of His love. There is such a force in the thought 
that He has given Himself for our sin. There issuch — 
a force in the Spirit of Christ given to us through His 
death to cleanse us by His presence in our hearts. 
And so I say, the blood of Jesus Christ, the power of 
His sacrifice and Cross, cleanses from all sin, both in 
the sense of taking away all my guilt, and in the sense 
of changing my character into something loftier and 
nobler and purer. 

Men and women! Do you believe that? If you do 
not, why do you not? If you do, are you trusting to 
what you believe, and living the life that befits the 
confidence ? 

One word more. The washing of your robes has to 
be done by you. ‘Blessed are they that wash their 
robes.’ On one hand is all the fulness of cleansing, on © 
the other is the heap of dirty rags that will not be 
cleansed by you sitting there and looking at them. 
You must bring the two into contact. How? By the 
magic band that unites strength and weakness, purity 
and foulness, the Saviour and the penitent; the magie 
band of simple affiance, and trust and submission of — 
myself to the cleansing power of His death and of His 
life. 4 

Only remember, ‘Blessed are they that are washing, 
as the Greek might read. Not once and for all, but a 
continuous process, a blessed process running on all 
through a man’s life. 






















v.14] THE LAST BEATITUDE 387 


These are the conditions as they come from Christ’s 
own lips, in almost the last words that human ears, 
either in fact or in vision, heard Him utter. These are 
the conditions underwhich noble life,and at last Heaven, 
are possible for men, namely, that their foul characters 

shall be cleansed, and that continuously, by daily recur- 
rence and recourse to the Fountain opened in His sacri- 
fice and death. 

Friends, you may know much of the beauty and 
nobleness of Christianity, you may know much of the 
tenderness and purity of Christ, but if you have not 
apprehended Him in this character, there is an inner 
sanctuary yet to be trod, of which your feet know 
nothing, and the sweetest sweetness of all you have 
not yet tasted, for it is His forgiving love and cleans- 
ing power that most deeply manifest His Divine affec- 
tion and bind us to Himself. 

II. The second thought that I would suggest is that 
these cleansed ones, and by implication these only, have 
unrestrained access to the source of life: ‘Blessed are 
they that wash their robes, that they may have right 
“to the Tree of Life.”’ That, of course, carries us back 
to the old mysterious narrative at the beginning of the 
Book of Genesis. 

Although it does not bear very closely upon my 
present subject, I cannot help pausing to point out 
one thing, how remarkable and how beautiful it is 
that the last page of the Revelation should come 
bending round to touch the first page of Genesis. The 
history of man began with angels with frowning faces 
and flaming swords barring the way to the Tree of Life. 
It ends here with the guard of Cherubim withdrawn; 
or rather, perhaps, sheathing their swords and becom- 
ing guides to the no longer forbidden fruit, instead of 


388 REVELATION (CH. XxII. 


being its guards. That is the Bible’s grand symbolical 
way of saying that all between—the sin, the misery, 
the death—is a parenthesis. God’s purpose is not going 
to be thwarted, and the end of His majestic march 
through human history is to be men’s access to the 
Tree of Life from which, for the dreary ages—that are 

but as a moment in the great eternities—they were 
barred out by their sin. | 

However, that is not the point that I meant to say a 
word about. The Tree of Life stands as the symbol : 
here of an external source of life. I take ‘life’ to be : 
used here in what I believe to be its predominant New 
Testament meaning, not bare continuance in existence, 
but a full, blessed perfection and activity of all the 
faculties and possibilities of the man, which this very 
Apostle himself identifies with the knowledge of God 
and of Jesus Christ. And that life, says John, has an 
external source in Heaven as on earth. 

There is an old Christian legend, absurd as a legend, 
beautiful as a parable, that the Cross on which Christ 
was crucified was made out of the wood of the Tree of 
Life. It is true in idea, for He and His work will be 
the source of all life, for earth and for Heaven, 
whether of body, soul, or spirit. They that wash 
their robes have the right of unrestrained access to 
Him in whose presence, in that loftier state, no 
impurity can live. 

I need not dwell upon the thought that is involved 
here, of how, whilst on earth and in the beginnings of © 
the Christian career, life is the basis of righteousness: 
in that higher world, ina very profound sense, righteous-— 
ness is the condition of fuller life. 

The Tree of Life, according to some of the old Rab- 
binical legends, lifted its branches, by an indwelling 


— 











v.14) THE LAST BEATITUDE 889 


motion, high above impure hands that were stretched 
to touch them, and until our hands are cleansed through 
faith in Jesus Christ, its richest fruit hangs unreach- 
able, golden, above our heads. Oh! brother, the ful- 
ness of the life of Heaven is only granted to them who, 
drawing near Jesus Christ by faith on earth, have 
thereby cleansed themselves from all filthiness of the 
flesh and spirit. 

III. Finally, those who are cleansed, and they only, 
have entrance into the society of the city. 

There again we have a whole series of Old and New 
Testament metaphors gathered together. In the old 
world the whole power and splendour of great kingdoms 
were gathered in their capitals, Babylon and Nineveh 
in the past, Rome in the present. To John the forces 
of evil were all concentrated in that city on the Seven 
Hills. To him the antagonistic forces which were the 
hope of the world were all concentrated in the real 
ideal city which he expected to come down from Heaven 
—the new Jerusalem. And he and his brother whoa 
wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever he was— 
trained substantially in the same school—have taught 
us the same lesson that our picture of the future is not 
to be of a solitary or self-regarding Heaven, but of ‘a 
city which hath foundations.’ 

Genesis began with a garden, man’s sin sent him out 
of the garden. God, out of evil, evolves good, and for 
the lost garden comes the better thing, the found city. 
‘Then comes the statelier Eden back to man.’ For 
surely it is better that men should live in the activities 
of the city than in the sweetness and indolence of the 
garden; and manifold and miserable as are the sins 
and the sorrows of great cities, the opprobria of our 
modern so-called civilisation, yet still the aggregation 


390 REVELATION (ow. x11 


of great masses of men for worthy objects generates 
a form of character, and sets loose energies and 
activities which no other kind of life could have 
produced. 

And so I believe a great step in progress is set forth 
when we read of the final condition of mankind as being 
their assembling in the city of God. And surely there, 
amidst the solemn troops and sweet societies, the long- 
loved, long-lost will be found again. I cannot believe 
that, like the Virgin and Joseph, we shall have to go 
wandering up and down the streets of Jerusalem when 
we get there, looking for our dear ones. ‘Wist ye not 
that I should be in the Father's house?’ We shall know 
where to find them. 


‘We shall clasp them again, 
And with God be the rest.’ 


The city is the emblem of security and of perman- 
ence. No more shall life be as a desert march, with 
ehanges which only bring sorrow, and yet a dreary 
monotony amidst them all. We shall dwell amid 
abiding realities, ourselves fixed in unchanging but 
ever-growing completeness and peace. The tents shall 
be done with, we shall inhabit the solid mansions of the 
city which hath foundations, and shall wonderingly 
exclaim, as our unaccustomed eyes gaze on their 
indestructible strength, ‘What manner of stones and 
what buildings are here!’—and not one stone of these 
shall ever be thrown down. 

Dear friends! the sum of all my poor words now is 
the earnest beseeching of every one of you to bring 
all your foulness to Christ, who alone can make you 


clean. ‘Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take 


thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before 


v.14] CHRIST’S LAST INVITATION _ 391 


Me, saith the Lord.’ ‘The blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth from all sin.’ Submit yourselves, I pray 
you, to its purifying power, by humble faith. Then 
you will have the true possession of the true life to- 
day, and will be citizens of the city of God, even while 
in this far-off dependency of that great metropolis. 
And when the moment comes for you to leave this 
prison-house, an angel ‘mighty and beauteous, though 
his face be hid, shall come to you, as once of old to 
the sleeping Apostle. His touch shall wake you, and 
lead you, scarce knowing where you are or what is 
happening, from the sleep of life, past the first and 
second ward, and through the iron gate that leadeth 
unto the city. Smoothly it will turn on its hinges, 
opening to you of its own accord, and then you will 
come to yourself and know of a surety that the Lord 
hath sent His angel, and that he has led you into the 
home of your heart, the city of God, which they enter 
as its fitting inhabitants who wash their robes in the 
blood of the Lamb. 


CHRIST’S LAST INVITATION FROM THE THRONE 


‘Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of 
life freely.’-—REV. xxii. 17. 
TuE last verses of this last book of Scripture are like 
the final movement of some great concerto, in which 
we hear all the instruments of the orchestra swelling 
the flood of triumph. Inthem many voices are audible 
alternately.. Sometimes it is the Seer who speaks, 
sometimes an angel, sometimes a deeper voice from the 
Throne, that of Christ Himself. It is often difficult, 
therefore, amidst these swift transitions, to tell who is 


392 REVELATION (cH. xx1I. 


the speaker; but one thing is clear that, just before 
the verse from which my text is taken, our Lord has 
been proclaiming from the Throne His royalty and His 
swift coming ‘to render to every man according’ to 
his work, and to gather His own into the city. 

After that solemn utterance He is silent for the 
moment, and there is a great hush. Then a voice is 
heard saying, ‘Come!’ It is the voice of the Bride 
in whom the Spirit speaks. What should she say, in 
answer to His promise, but pour out her wish for its 
fulfilment? How should the Bride not long for the 
bridegroom? Then apparently the Seer breaks in, 
summoning all who have heard Christ's promise, and 
the Church’s prayer, to swell her ery of longing. For, 
indeed, His coming is the Divine ‘event to which the 
whole Creation moves’; and in it all the world’s 
dreams of a golden age are fulfilled, and all the world’s 
wounds are healed. ‘Let him that heareth say, Come!’ 

But who speaks my text? Apparently Christ Him- 
self, though its force would not be materially modified 
if it were the voice of John, the Seer. It is His answer 
to the cry of the Church. He delays His coming; for 
this among other reasons that all the world may hear 
His gracious invitation. Then there are two comings 
in this verse—the final coming of Christ to the world; 
the invited coming of the world to Christ. 

Now, it is obvious, I think, that such a way of under- 
standing our text, with its vivid interchange of speakers 
and subjects, gives a far richer meaning to it than the 
interpretation which is so common amongst us, which 
recognises in all these ‘Comes’ only a reference to one 
and the same subject, the approach of men to Jesus 
Christ through faith in Him. 

Let us, then, listen to this Voice from the Throne, 


v.17] CHRIST’S LAST INVITATION _~ 393 


almost the last recorded words of the ascended Jesus, 
in which are gathered all His love for men and His 
longing to bless them. 

I. Now, first let me suggest the question—To whom 
Christ from the Throne thus calls? 

The persons addressed are designated by two de- 
scriptions: they that are ‘athirst,’ and those that ‘will.’ 
In one aspect of the former designation it is universal; 
in another aspect it is by no means so. The latter 
designation is, alas! anything but universal, because 
there are many men that thirst; and, strange as it 
seems, will not to be satisfied. But we take these two 
apart, and look at them separately. 

The first qualification is need, and the sense of need. 
These two things, alas! do not go together. One is 
universal, the other by nomeans so. When aman is 
thirsty he knows that he is. But it is quite possible 
that your soul’s lips may be cracking and black with 
thirst, and you may be all unconscious of it. There is 
@ universal need stamped upon men, by the very make 
of their spirits, which declares that they must have 
something or some one external to themselves,onwhom 
they can rest, and from whom they can be satisfied. 
The heart yearns for another's love; the mind is rest- 
less till it grasps reality and truth. The will longs to 
be mastered, even though it rebels against the Master, 
and the whole nature of man proclaims, ‘My soul 
thirsteth for God; for the living God. Noman is at 
rest unless he is living in conscious amity with, and in 
possession of, the Father's heart and the Father's 
strength. 

But, brethren, half of you do not know what ails 
you. You recognise the gnawing discontent, the urg- 
ing restlessness, the continual feeling after something 


894 REVELATION (CH. XXII.’ 


more than you have, and it often impels you on the 
wrong road. There is such a thing as misinterpreting 
the cry of the Spirit, and that misinterpretation is the 
crime and the misery of millions of men and of many 
in this building this evening. That they shall stifle 
their true need under a pile of worldly things, that they 
shall direct their longings to what can never satisfy 
them, that they shall put away all thoughts of the one 
sufficient anchorage, and hold, and nourishment, and 
refreshment, and gladness of the spirit, is indeed the 
state and the misery of many of us. 

Perverted tastes are by no means confined to certain 
forms of disease of the body. There is the same per- 
version of taste in regard of higher things. You and 
I are made to feed upon God, and we feed upon our- 
selves, and one another, and the world, and all the 
trash, in comparison to our immortal desires and 
capacities, which we find around us. It seems to me 
sometimes, looking upon the busy life in the midst of 
which we live, and the way in which, from Monday 
morning to Saturday night, each man is hurrying after 
his chosen pursuits, as if we were all stricken with 
insanity, and chasing after dreams; or as if, if I might 
take such an illustration, we were like the actors upon 
a stage, atsome banquet ina play, pretending with great 
gusto to be drinking nothing, out of cups tinselled to 
look like gold, but which are only wood. Do you 
interpret aright the immortal thirst of your soul? 
Having the need, brother, are you conscious of the 
need; and, if conscious, do you know where the fountain 
bubbles up that will supply it? I fear—I fear that 
there are many who, if they would interrogate their 
own hearts honestly, and look this question in the 
face, would have to answer, No! It is ‘as when a 





v.17] CHRIST'S LAST INVITATION — 395 


thirsty man dreameth, and behold! he drinketh; but 
he awaketh; and, behold! he is faint, and his soul 
within him hath appetite.’ 

Now, I dare say there are many who are not aware of 
this thirst of the soul. No! you have crushed it out, 
and for a time you are quite satisfied with worldly 
success, or with the various objects on which you have 
set your hearts. It will not last! It will not last! 
It is not likely to last even the length of your life. It 
will not last any longer. Some of us may be like the 
cactus that grows in hot, light soil in eastern lands, 
having a considerable store of moisture in the fleshy 
spike that will help it through a long time of drought, 
but the store gets used up. Be sure of this, that, until 
you go to Jesus Christ, you dwell in ‘a dry and thirsty 
land where no water is.’ So far as the sense of need 
goes this text may not appeal to you. So far as the 
reality of the need goes it certainly does. 

Then, look at the other designation of the persons to 
whom Christ's merciful summons comes: ‘ Whosoever 
will let him take.’ Now, I said that the former desig- 
nation, in one view of it, covered the whole ground of 
humanity. We cannot say that of this other one, for 
we are brought face to face with that strange and most 
inexplicable and yet most certain and tragic of all facts 
in regard to men, that they do turn away their wills 
from the merciful call of God, and that some of them, 
gnawing their very tongues with thirst, yet put away 
with impatient hand the sparkling cup that He offers 
to them freely. There is nothing sadder, there is 
nothing more certain, than that we poor little creatures 
can assert our will inthe presence of the Divine loving- 
kindness, and can thwart, so far as we are concerned, 
the council of God against ourselves. ‘How often 


896 REVELATION (CH. XXII, 


would I have gathered,’ said the foiled, long-suffering 
Christ—‘ how often would I have gathered ... and ye 
would not!’ Ol! brethren, it is an awful thing to think 
that with this universal need there is such a partial 
yielding of the will to Him. 

I do not enter here and now upon the various reasons 
or excuses which men offer to themselves and one 
another for this disinclination to accept the Divine 
mercy, but I do venture to say that the solid core of 
unwillingness to be saved upon Christ’s conditions 
underlies a vast deal—not all, but a vast deal—of the 
supposed intellectual difficulties of men in regard to the 
Gospel. The will bribes the understanding, in a great 
many regions. It is a very common thing all round 
the horizon of thought and knowledge that a man 
shall believe or disbelieve largely under the influence 
of prejudice or inclination. So let no man be offended 
if I say that what we have to guard against, in all 
regions of thought, we have also to guard against in 
our relation to the truths of the Gospel, and make very 
sure that, when we think we are being borne along by 
pure, impartial reason, the will has not put a bridle in 
the nose of the steed, and is guiding it astray. 

But for the most of you who stand apart from Jesus 
Christ this is the truth, that your attitude is a merely 
negative one. It is not that you will not to have Him 
but that you do not will to have Him. But that nega- 
tive attitude, that passive indifference which largely 
eomes from a heart that does not like to submit to 
the conditions that Christ imposes, makes a positive 
hindrance to your getting between your lips the water 
of life. You know the old proverb: One man can 
take a horse to the water, ten cannot make him drink. 
We can bring you to the water, or the water to you, 


v.17] CHRIST'S LAST INVITATION — 397 


but neither Christ nor His servants can put the re- 
freshing, life-giving liquid into your mouth if you lock 
your lips so tight that a bristle could not goin between 
them. You can thwart Christ, and when He says, 
‘Take, drink!’ you can shake your head and mumble, 
‘I will not.’ So, dear friends, I beseech you to take 
this solemnly into consideration, that the operative 
cause why most of us who are not Christians are not, 
is simply disinclination. Wishing is one thing; willing 
is quite another. Wishing to be delivered from the 
gnawing restlessness of a hungry heart, and to be satis- 
fied, is one thing; willing to accept the satisfaction 
which Christ gives on the terms which Christ lays 
down is, alas! quite another. 

Seeing that to know our need and to be willing to 
let Him supply it in His own fashion are the only quali- 
fications, then how magnificently from this last word 
of the Christ from the Throne comes out the univer- 
sality of His Gospel. ‘Whosoever will, that is all. If 
you choose you may. No other conditions are laid 
down. If there had been any which were beyond the 
power of every soul of man upon earth, then Chris- 
tianity would have dwindled to a narrow, provincial, 
sectional thing. But, since it only demands the need, 
which is universal; the sense of need, which every man 
may feel; and willingness, which every man ought to, 
and can, exercise, it is the Gospel for the world, and it 
is the Gospel for me, and it is the Gospel for each of 
you. See that ye refuse not the offered draught. 

II. That brings me, secondly, to say a word about 
what Christ from heaven thus offers to us all. 

This book of Revelation, as I have already remarked, 
in another connection, is the close of the great Revela- 
tion of God; and it is full of the echoes of His earlier 


898 REVELATION (oH. XXII. 


words. The river of the water of life has been rippling 
and tinkling from the first chapter of Genesis to the 
last of Revelation. It is the river that flowed through 
Eden ; the river which makes glad with its streams the 
City of God, the river of the Divine pleasures, of which 
God makes His children drink; the river which the 
prophet saw stealing out from under the Temple doors, 
and carrying life whithersoever it came; the river 
which Christ proclaimed should flow from because it 
had flowed into, all that should believe upon Him, ‘the 
river of the water of life, clear as crystal,’ which the 
Seer had just seen proceeding from the Throne of God 
and of the Lamb. Our Lord’s words to the Samaritan 
woman, and His words on that last great day df the 
feast, when He stood and cried, ‘If any man thirst let 
him come to Me and drink,’ and many another gracious 
utterance, are all gathered up, as it were, in this last 
Voice from the Throne. 

The water of life is not merely living water, in the 
sense that it flashes and sparkles and flows; but it is 
water which communicates life. ‘Life’ here is to ba 
taken in that deep, pregnant, comprehensive sense in 
which the Apostle John uses it in all his writings. It 
is his shorthand symbol for the whole aggregate of the 
blessings which come to men through Jesus Christ, 
and which, received by men, make them blessed indeed. 

The first thought that emerges from this ‘ water of 
life,’ considered as being the sum of all that Christ 
communicates to humanity is—then, where it does not 
run or is not received, there is death. Ah, brother, the 
true death is separation from God, and the true separa- 
tion from God is not brought about because He is in 
heaven, and we are upon earth; or because He is in- 
finite and incomprehensible, and we are poor creatures 


v.17] CHRIST’S LAST INVITATION 399 


of an hour, but because we depart from Him in heart 
and mind, and, as another Apostle says, are dead in 
trespassesand sins. Death in life, a living death, is far 
more dreadful than when the poor body is laid quiet 
upon the bed, and the spirit has left the pale cheeks. 
And that death is upon us, unless it has been banished 
from us by a draught of the water of life. Dear 
brethren, that is not pulpit rhetoric; it is the deepest 
fact about human nature. It is not a mere metaphor. 
I take it that the death of the body is metaphor, so to 
speak, the embodiment in material form, as a parable 
of the far grimmer thing which goes on in the region 
of the spirit. And I beseech you to remember that 
according to the whole teaching of Scripture, which I 
think is countersigned by the verdict of an awakened 
conscience, death is the separation from God by sin; 
and the only quickening potion is the water which 
Christ gives; or rather, as He Himself said, ‘He that 
drinketh of My blood hath life indeed.’ 

But, then, besides all these thoughts, there come 
others, on which I need not dwell, that in that great 
emblem of the water that gives life isincluded the satis- 
faction of all desires, meeting and over-answering all 
expectations, filling up every empty place in the heart, 
in the hopes, in the whole inward nature of man, and 
lavishing upon him all the blessings which go to make 
up true gladness, true nobleness, and dignity. Nor 
does the eternal life cease when physical death comes. 
The river—if I might modify the figure with which I 
am dealing, and regard the man himself in his Christian 
experience as the river—fiows through a narrow, dark 
gorge, like one of the cafons on American streams, 
and down to its profoundest depths no sunlight can 
travel. But the waters are not diminished though 


400 REVELATION (cH. XXII. 


they are confined, nor are they arrested by the black 
rocks, but at the other end of the defile they come out 
into flashing sunset and sparkle and flow. And away 
somewhere in the dark gorge mighty tributaries have 
poured in, so that the stream is broader and deeper, 
and pours a more majestic volume towards the great 
ocean from which it originally came. 

Brother, here is the offer—life eternal, deliverance 
from the death of sin both as guilt and power; the 
pouring out upon us of all the blessing that our thirsty 
spirits can desire, and the perpetuity of that blessed 
existence and endless satisfaction through the infinite 
ages of timeless being. These are the offers that Christ 
makes to each of us, 

III. Lastly, what Christ from heaven calls us to do. 

‘He that is athirst let him come; and whosoever will 
let him take!’ The two things, coming and taking, as 
it seems to me, cover substantially the same ground. 
You often hear earnest, evangelical preachers reiterate 
that call—‘Come to Jesus! come to Jesus!’ with more 
fervour than clearness of explanation of what they 
mean. So, I would say, in one sentence emphatically, 
and as plainly as I can put it, that Jesus Christ Himself 
has told us what He means. Because when He was 
here upon earth He stood and cried, ‘If any man thirst 
let him come to Me and drink. And He explained 
Himself when He said, ‘ He that cometh unto Me shall 
never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never 
thirst.’ So let us put away the metaphors of ‘coming’ 
and ‘taking’ and lay hold of the Christ-given interpre- 
tation of them, and say the one thing that Christ asks 
me to do is to trust my poor, sinful self wholly and 
confidently and constantly and obediently te Him. 
That is all. 


ee a 


v.17] CHRIST'S LAST INVITATION 401 


Ah! All! And thatis just where the pinch comes. ‘My 
father! my father!’ remonstrated Naaman’s servants, 
when he was in a towering passion because he was told 
to go wash in the Jordan; ‘if the prophet had bidden 
thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done 
it? How much rather then when he saith to thee, 
Wash and be clean?’ Naaman’s strange reluctance to 
do a little thing in order to produce a great effect 
whilst he was willing to take a mint of trouble in order 
to produce it, is repeated over and over again amongst 
us. You will see men buy damnation dear who will 
not have salvation because it is a gift and they have 
nothing to do. I do believe that great multitudes of 
people would rather, like the Hindoos, stick hooks in 
the muscles of their backs, and swing at the end of a 
rope if that would get heaven for them, than simply be 
content to come in formdé pauperis, and owe everything 
to Christ’s grace, and nothing to their own works. 

Why! what is the meaning of all this new vitality of 
sacerdotal notions amongst us to-day, and of the efficacy 
of sacraments, and all the rest of it, except the pur- 
blindness to the flashing glory of the central truth of 
the Gospel that not by anything that we do, but simply 
by His Cross and passion received by faith into our 
hearts, are we saved? Brethren, it is not theology 
about Christ’s sacrifice, but it is the Christ whom the 
theology about His sacrifice explains that you must 
get hold of. And if you trust Him you have come to 
Him in a very real sense, and have His presence with 
you, and you are present with Him far more really 
than were the men who companied with Him all the 
time that He went in and out amongst them here on 
this earth. So much for the ‘come.’ 

‘Let him take.’ Well, that being translated, too, is 

2c 


402 REVELATION (oH. xx. 


but the exercise of lowly trust in Him. Faith is the 
hand that, being put out, grasps this great gift. You 
must make the universal blessing yourown. The river 
flows past your door, broader and deeper and more 
majestic than the ‘father of waters’ itself. But all 
that is naught to you unless you take your own little 
pitcher to the brink and fill it, and take it home. ‘He 
loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ Do you say that? 
Dear brother! are you athirst? I know you are. 
Do you know it? Are you willing to take Christ's 
salvation on Christ’s terms, and to live by faith in Him, 
communion with, and obedience to Him? If you are, 
then earth may yield or deny you its waters, but you 
will not be dependent on them. When all the land is 
parched and baked, and every surface well run dry, 
you will have a spring that fails not, and the water 
that Christ ‘will give you will be in you a fountain of 
water leaping up into everlasting life.’ Nor will your 
supplies fail when death cuts off all that flow from 
earthly cisterns, for they who here drink of the river 
will hereafter go up to the Source, and ‘they shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any more, for the Lamb 
that is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and 
shall lead them to living fountains of water, and God 
the Lord shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.’ 


EE 


EXPOSITIONS OF 
HOLY SCRIPTURE 


ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. 


INDEX 


Arranged by George Eayrs, F. R. Hist. S., with 
An Appreciation of Dr. Maclaren by 
W. Robertson Nicoll, M.A., LL. D. 





DR. ALEXANDER M°LAREN 


AN APPRECIATION BY 
W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.’ 


Dr. M*LAREN® passed in peace on Thursday, May 5th 
1910, in the fulness of years and honours. He was 
eighty-three. He died in Edinburgh, where he had 
many friends. He loved to talk of his first visit to 
that eity, the rapture with which he beheld it, and of 
the thoughts which its beauty and its history stirred 
in his young mind. He remembered also hearing the 
great Dr. Chalmers talking like a tender father to a 
company of poor peopie. For days before his death 
he had been withdrawn from the loving watchers at 
his side. All the air was held in a solemn stillness. 
Till close on the end he had worked at his lifelong task 
as a Servant and Teacher of the Word of God. He 
had very nearly completed his great series of Haxpo- 
sitions. There was no failing, no decay. What he 
wrote last is as fresh and strong as any work of his 
prime. 

For the present, at least, we shall attempt no 


1 This article appeared in the British Weekly in its next issue after 
Dr. M‘Laren’s death. 

? This spelling of Dr. MeLaren’s name was the form he used. The 
earliest volumes of his sermons bore the spelling of it which appears on 
the title-pages of these Expositions. 


v 


vi DR. ALEXANDER M*LAREN 


biography.’ The outward events of his life are few. 
He spent his life as a Baptist minister for nearly twelve 


years at Southampton, and afterwards at Manchester. 
His career has an immense stretch—over the extra- 
ordinary period of nearly sixty-five years. But we 
give one letter, only part of which has hitherto been 
published. It was agreed that it should be printed in 
full after his death. 


Carr Brinagg, N.B., 
September 1, 1905. 


My DEAR NICOLL,—I suppose that you are back at 


work again, and so I wish a word with you as to this 


month's British Monthly. I am very much obliged to 


—_ = 


you for planning and to your contributor for executing 
it, and I hope the readers will allow for kindly ex- — 


aygeration, which makes me rather ashamed. If I 
nad known of the intention to publish, I should have 
eraved an opportunity of supplying material to fill 
two regrettable gaps. I do not know whether you can 
do anything still to fill them up, but I should be 
grateful if it could be done somehow. 

The first of them touches on sacred matter, in regard 
to which I am habitually reticent, as I should and must 
be, but which should have a foremost place in any 
notice of me. I refer to my married life. My wife, 
Marion M‘Laren, was my cousin. We were much to- 
gether from our earliest days. Her father, James 
M‘Laren, was an Edinburgh citizen of high standing, 


1A Life of Dr. M*Laren was published in 1911: Dr. M*Laren of 
Manchester: A Sketch. By E. T. M*Laren (Hodder and Stoughton). 


AN APPRECIATION vii 


a deacon for many years in Dr. Lindsay Alexander's 
church, and a compeer of worthies like Adam Black, 
Charles Cowan, George Harvey, and other strong men 
of theirday. The atmosphere of his house was redolent 
of the best traditions of Scottish religion and culture, 
a home of plain living and high thinking. With all its 
large and happy group of children I was as a brother, 
and the childish bonds grew stronger and graver as 
the children grew to be men and women, and they are 
stronger than ever to-day between the few survivors 
and myself. In 1856 Marion M‘*Laren became my wife. 
God allowed us to be together till the dark December 
of 1884. Others could speak of her charm, her beauty, 
her gifts and goodness. Most of what she was to me is 
for ever locked in my heart. But I would fain that, in 
any notices of what I am, or have been able to do, it 
should be told that the best part of it all came and 
comes from her. We read and thought together, and 
her clear, bright intellect illumined obscurities and 
‘rejoiced in the truth. We worked and bore together, 
and her courage and deftness made toil easy and 
charmed away difficulties. She lived a life of noble- 
ness, of strenuous effort, of aspiration, of sympathy, 
self-forgetfulness, and love. She was my guide, my 
_inspirer, my corrector, my reward. Of all human 
formative influences on my character and life hers is 
the strongest and the best. To write of me and not to 
name her is to present a fragment. 

I should also have wished to have had the name of 
the Rev. David Russell, Congregational minister, of 


Vili DR. ALEXANDER M*LAREN 


Glasgow, mentioned. To him, under God, I owe the 
quickening of early religious impressions into living 
faith and surrender, and to him I owe also much wise 
and affectionate counsel in my boyish years. He be- 
eame my brother-in-law at a later period, and during 
all his long and honoured ministry he was my friend. 
I deeply revere his memory. I know, as few did, his 
patient work, his quaint freshness of thought and 
speech, his simplicity of life and steadfastness in 
cleaving to duty, his profound devoutness and his 
large heart, and I should have liked to have had my 
great obligations to him set prominently forth. 

I do not know if you can do anything, nor what you 
ean do, to gratify my wishes in these respects, but I 
tell you what they are, and am sure that you will help 
me, if you see any way to do so.—Yours affectionately, 

ALEX. M°LAREN, 

De profundis amavit. 


I 


We think first of his gifts and graces, then of his 
discipline of these, and then of his lifelong and almost 
fierce concentration on his work as a Baptist minister. 

His natural gifts were extraordinary. He was out 
of sight the most brilliant man all round we ever 
knew. From his youth he looked like a Highland 
ehieftain born to command. In any company where 
he sat was the head of the table. Before you knew he 
was a prophet you were sure he wasa king. Whocan 
forget that wonderful face, tender and stern, more 


AN APPRECIATION ix 


beautiful and more saintly as the years went on, with 
the lights and shadows sweeping over it? Who can 
forget the flash of those magnetic, dominating eyes? 
There was a kind of regal effulgence about him in his 
great moments. He might have been anything— 
soldier, politician, man of letters, man of science, and 
in any profession he would have taken the head. He 
was gifted with a swift and clear-cutting intellect. 
He had also a true vein of poetry and genius. He 
could master any subject, and he had an all-sided 
strength and capacity. These gifts were early brought 
into captivity to the obedience of Christ. If ever any 
one was apprehended of Christ Jesus in early years, it 
was Alexander M°Laren. The religious training of 
his youth, which he loved to describe, seized him, held 
him, ruled him through all his many years. Never 
Was any one more profoundly loyal to the lessons of 
the morning. He desired no other and no better thing 
than that the end of his life should circle round the 
beginning, only with a deeper conviction and a stronger 
love at last. 

We shrink from writing about his religious life, but 
it was hid with Christ in God. Those who observed 
him recognised that he drank from fountains older 
than the world, and for him they were always running 
fresh. In his later years it seemed to be his supreme 
desire to obtain a fuller communion with God in Christ. 
Although not mystical in his writings, he loved the 
mystics, and pondered over the sermons of Tauler and 
such books with a wistful eagerness. He knew by 


x DR. ALEXANDER McLAREN 


experience, as the true Mystics knew, that God is the 
Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. He proved 
the truth of that word. He was continually alive to 
the great realities of sin and grace, and this was the 
secret of the intense and solemn emotion that burned 
into the midst of heaven when ‘he spoke to the people. 
Though he was very chary of speaking on such themes, 
I think he had some belief in the actual communion of 
the living with the dead, and he sometimes touched on 
it when his memory recurred to olddark hours. Butin 
public his sole business was to expound the Word of God. 


II 


As wonderful as his gifts was the use he made of 
them. They were all disciplined for one purpose. He 
toiled terribly that he might be an effective preacher. 
He made himself a scholar familiar with Greek and 
Latin, and with the best in literature, English and 
Continental. With great labour he mastered and 
perfected a style. Carlyle was a potent influence in 
his early years. Browning he much preferred to 
Tennyson, though he had much of Tennyson’s finish 
and music. Still there were traces of Carlyle and of 
Browning in his work at times, and more in his talk— 
something of brusqueness, something of fierceness, 
something of cutting through to the heart of things. 
But his fastidious taste was always in exercise. He 
made much of style in judging the merits of authors, 
and he thought that among living prose writers Joseph 


Conrad was the best. 


ue” iat lamella 


AN APPRECIATION xi 


Above all, he taught himself to speak in that style. 
Thomas Binney touched him powerfully in his early 
years. He resolved that he would not read sermons, 
but speak them, and that the spoken sermon should be 
as careful and as polished as the written sermon. He 
used to say that it took him years to accomplish this, 
and I can well believe it, for the result was miraculous. 
I have had in my hands some five thousand of the 
notes’ of his sermons, and I think I can say positively 
that the finest sentences were not found in the notes. 
They say that in the early years of his ministry he 
would pause a long time fora word. This never took 
place when I heard him, but he had learned his lesson. 
He had the temperament of an orator, and he acquired 
the rare faculty of speaking better English than he 
could write. It was amazing to see him in the pulpit, 
absorbed by the passion of the moment, and yet 
summoning and dismissing his phrases. You could see 
the double process going on, the mind shaping the 
consummate sentence behind the act and ardour of 
utterance. At last words came at his call, or without 
being called. He commanded words as an Emperor 
and as a magician. In his very loftiest flights one 
hardly knew whether he spoke or sang; it was‘Speech 
half asleep or song half awake.’ 

Every detail of the service was attended to in the 
same manner, the prayer,” the Bible reading, the choice 


1 Some of these ‘ Notes,’ without the expansion as when used in preach- 
ing, are given in the Expositions, e.g. vol. Matthew, 241. 

3 Two volumes of his pulpit prayers have been published by Messrs. 
Hodder and Stoughton, uniform in size with the Expositions. 


xii DR. ALEXANDER McLAREN 


of hymns. He could not have been slovenly if he had 
tried to be. The last time I heard him speak was at 
the jubilee meeting of the Reverend Arthur Mursell, of 
which he was chairman. Whataspeech! The superb 
finish, the ease and grace that marked it were unfor- 
gettable. No living man could have come within 
measurable distance of it, and yet all was effortless. 


Ill 


All these disciplined gifts and graces were concen- 
trated on his work as a minister—one might say asa 
Baptist minister. 

A phrase much in his mouth was ‘this ministry,’ and 
another phrase was ‘neither priest nor philosopher, 
but messenger and proclaimer. He knew philosophy, 
and he knew how philosophies came and went. ‘The 
feet of them that are to carry thee out also are already 
at the door. To him preaching was the exposition of 
the eternal divine thought. Anything else was not 
preaching. So the Bible was his book. Through his 
long life he was continually studying it in Hebrew and 
in Greek. Like Dale, in his latter days he put West- 
cott’s Commentaries above all the rest. Nothing 
interested him more in recent years than Dr. Moulton’s 
New Testament Grammar, and the translation of the 
New Testament as affected by the discovery of the 
Greek papyri. All the wisdom of the world was to him 
contained in the Bible, but his business was to apply 
the Bible to life, and he read very widely in general 
literature. For biographies and sermons he cared 


— 


oor 


AN APPRECIATION xiii 


nothing, but he knew the best novels well. The 
Waverley Novels he knew so intimately that latterly 
he could not read them. But Dumas continued to be 
a great favourite, especially the memorable series 
which includes the Vicomte de Bragelonne. Books of 
travel attracted him. He was aclose student of history, 
and not ignorant of science. He studied the living 
book of humanity. His whole effort was to bring Bible 
truth into effective contact with the human heart. 


Every one knows his method of preaching. His 


: people, as one of his friends said, ‘were fed with the 


three-pronged fork.’ He had an extraordinary gift of 
analysing a text. He touched it with a silver hammer, 
and it immediately broke up into natural and memor- 
able divisions, so comprehensive and so clear that it 
seemed wonderful that the text should have been 
handled in any other way. He sought to give truth 
an edge; he brought everything to a point. His 
style in his early Manchester sermons was richer and 
more adorned than in his later. His desire to get at 
men’s souls simplified his speech. He proved himself 
more than adequate in the profoundest parts of 
Scripture, and I do not think he ever rose higher than 
in his exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians, 
where he expounds the cosmic significance of Christ. 
His spirit yoked itself with the loftiest thoughts and 
imaginings of prophets and apostles. 

This concentration involved great sacrifices. Dr. 
M‘Laren conceived it his duty to preach certainties, 
and only certainties. In the main he was what is 


xiv DR. ALEXANDER McLAREN 


called orthodox, but on the subject of eternal punish- 
ment he believed that the New Testament gave no 
clear teaching, some passages pointing to eternal 
punishment, and others to universal restoration. But 
I do not remember that he ever stated this view in 
any sermon. He preferred to dwell on the certainty 
of sin’s punishment. There were many who thought 
that he might have done much as a mediator between 
the Church and modern thought. They considered that 
he, above all others, was the man who should lead his 
brethren with a clear lamp held patiently aloft, and 
throwing its light so broadly on their steps that when 
they came up with him they could not believe they 
had ever doubted of the way. But he deliberately 
declined the task, though not unwilling in conversa- 
tion to state his views upon vexed problems. 

For the same reason he rarely and reluctantly 
intervened in public affairs. When he did, his 
speeches were remarkable for their wisdom and fire. 
But they were few. He would say that he worked 
upon a very small reserve of force, but I believe that 
he could not bear to be away from the true work of 
his life—the exposition of triumphant certainties. 

Nor was he a constructive, dogmatic theologian. 
He believed that if he explained the New Testament as 
it stood, the truth would go home. So he did little or 
nothing to restate, for example, the doctrines of the 
Incarnation and the Atonement. He held on his wayin 
his own quiet course. I suppose he was like the man 
who, when asked to expound what God is, replied: ‘I 


AN APPRECIATION xv 


know if Iam not asked.’ It is hardly needful to say that 
he never took subjects of the day into his pulpit. He 
might preach a funeral sermon or make a reference to 
some impressive public event, but he did so very 
rarely. His sermons were, to use a favourite word of 
Mr. Howells’, aoristic, or we may call them timeless. 
They had hardly any direct relation to the cireum- 
stances of the hour. 

I have thought sometimes that he concentrated 
himself not merely on the ministry, but on the Baptist 
ministry. He seemed to have none of the ordinary 
ambitions of a preacher. He went to a very small 
congregation on a very small salary and remained for 
the best years of his youth, in spite of all invitations 
to remove. When he came to Manchester there was 
only a moderate congregation in a moderately-sized 
chapel to receive him. He created his own place by 
the sheer power of his preaching. People had to come 
to him; he did not go to them. Such was his 
attractive power that he ministered to one of the 
greatest and most influential congregations in Man- 
chester. But he did not bow his proud head one inch 
to win a hearing. He was exceedingly unwilling to 
preach outside of the Baptist denomination. For 
example, he had no more ardent admirers than the 
Presbyterians of Scotland, but very few of them ever 
had the opportunity of listening to him. It was most 
difficult to induce him to preach any special sermon. 
So far was he from seeking to be included in 
programmes, that secretaries had to go on their knees 


xvi DR. ALEXANDER M*LAREN 


almost in order to get his name. In fact, he seemed to 


prefer the humblest place. For village chapels he had — 


a great love, and many of his finest utterances would 
be given in some poor House of Christ crowded by a 
rustic audience. Amidst the modern developments of 
church life he harked back to simple and primitive 
ways, the ways of the Quakers, the ways of the Pen 
Folk. He had to yield to the current of his time, ana 
he did so with full conviction. But statistics, organisa- 
tion, machinery, crowds, elaborate music, display in 
advertising—these things were not to his taste. We 
have said that he might have done great things in 
literature, but he would not be enticed away. He did 
speak at times about writing a volume of Scottish 
Baptist idylls, but he played smilingly with the idea, 
as Robert Browning did with the idea of his writing a 
novel on Napoleon. It never came to anything beyond 
a few pages. He translated for his own pleasure a 
good many letters of Luther in a most original and 
graphic style, but he would not go on with them. 
Once he very nearly accepted a professorship in 
Regent's Park College, but it was coupled with an 
engagement to preach in Bloomsbury Chapel every 
Sunday morning. Also, when very ill and deeply 
depressed by the death of his wife, he wrote to a 
publisher friend, suggesting that he should do literary 
work. But these were only passing moods. He was a 
minister of the Word, a minister among the Baptists, 
faithful to the death, working in the inspiration of the 
early days to which his heart held firm. 


AN APPRECIATION xvii 


In this way he refused almost everything. He was 
always saying no. Every visitor whom he suspected 
of a new proposal was received at first with a certain 
gruffness and suspicion, soon disarmed into smiling 
gentleness. His first book of sermons was simply 
dragged out of him. It was printed from reporter's 
notes, and he was got to agree to its private publica- 
tion. Then he had to give it to the public, and others 
followed. But if he had been left to himself he would 
never have published any sermons. I take pride in 
having suggested to him the preparation of his 
Expositions of Holy Scripture, which have been so 
widely read in this country, in the Colonies, and in 
America. I cannot say that he received the suggestion 
too graciously, but in the end I believe it gave him 
much pleasure to be working to the last, and the later 
volumes contain much more new matter than the 
earlier volumes did. 

I have said nothing of his wit, his humour, his 
sarcasm, his sympathy. I have said nothing of the 
white light he threw upon men and movements. I 
have said nothing of the aloofness which, until his 
release from ministerial duty, prevented him from 
cultivating intimate friendships with men of his own 
intellectual rank. He had a hearty love for Lanca- 
shire, and especially for the character of the 
Lancashire people, on which he would dwell with 
great delight and many amusing stories. But he was 
gratified by the recognition he received from the 


University of Manchester, and took pleasure in his 
b 


xviii DR. ALEXANDER McLAREN ; 


work as a Governor of Rylands’ Library. But I think 
there can be very few cases where a man of his noble 
and magnificent powers had so limited a range of / 
intercourse with the more potent personalities of his 
time. This was his own choice, his own sacrifice. 
‘We pass; the path that each man trod 
Is dim, or will be dim, with weeds,’ 

But it is difficult to believe that Dr. M°Laren will soon — 
be forgotten. It is difficult to believe that his Exposi- 
tions of the Bible will be superseded. Will there ever 
again be such a combination of spiritual insight, of | 
scholarship, of passion, of style, of keen intellectual 
power? He was clearly a man of genius, and men of — 
genius are very rare. So long as preachers care to 
teach from the Scriptures they will find their best — 
guide and help in him. That remains, but we who 
knew him know what has been taken from us as we 
recall the man, his heart, his voice, his mien, his accent, 
his accost. We shall not see his like again. We know 
also that in him as much power was kept back as was 
brought out. But he did his work not merely for the 
time, but for the time to come. He spoke to those 
pierced with an anguish, ‘whose balsam never grew.’ 
He spoke to the cravings, to the aspirations, to the 
hopes as well as to the sorrows and the pains of 
humanity. The generations to come will care little or 
nothing for our sermons for the times, but they will 
listen to the sweet, clear voice of the man who preached 
to the end of Gilead, and Beulah, and the Gates of Day. 





PREFACE TO THE INDEX 


FIvE years ago Dr. M‘Laren placed at the disposal of 
the publishers the whole of his manuscripts of sermons 
and expositions prepared during a ministry of more 
than fifty years. Great care has been given to the 
task of gathering and collating the enormous mass of 
material in this series, and although from time to time 
portions of Dr. M*Laren’s work have been published, a 
large part appears for the first time in book form. 
Each page was carefully revised by Dr. M*Laren. 

An Index volume to the Expositions was called for 
because of the magnitude of the complete work— 
thirty-two volumes—and in order that all the treasures 
contained in them might be readily accessible. A 
notable feature of Dr. M*Laren’s expository art was 
the use of supplementary, complementary, or contrast- 
ing passages of Scripture as sidelights or reflections 
upon that which he was expounding. These illustra- 
tive passages have all been carefully traced to their 
place in the Scriptures and indexed, as well as those 
portions which are made the subject of exposition. A 
very large number of the less known portions and 
verses of the Bible, many of them precious jewels, are 
thus brought out, while, as reference will show, the 
parts most used by preachers are examined fully, with 
minutest care, and exceptional suggestiveness. 


xix 


xx PREFACE 


Further, in these Expositions Dr. M°Laren treats of 
almost every Biblical and theological subject, here 
briefly, there more fully. The Index gathers together 
the references to these subjects and topics, and so 
furnishes a synthesis of exposition and Scripture 
‘teaching upon them, and also many illustrations of 
much freshness and beauty. The Index contains more 
than twenty-five thousand references to Scripture 
verses and subjects. 

On the death of Dr. M°Laren there appeared in the 
British Weekly, by the Editor, Sir William Robertson 
Nicoll, the appreciation of him which is reprinted in 
this volume. It was at once recognised, by those who 
knew Dr. M°Laren best, as a singularly noble tribute, 
and as a close and suggestive analysis of his genius, 
work and character. It was at the instance of Sir 
William Robertson Nicoll that these Expositions were 
prepared for publication by Dr. M°Laren. It is there- 
fore fitting that the appreciation should appear in 
permanent form with them. I am very grateful that 
the Editor has acceded to my request that it should be 
so used. 

The writer may be allowed to wish for all who use 
the Index the same devout pleasure and profit as he 
has found in arranging and using it. Twenty-five 
years ago a ministerial friend did him the great 
service of putting into his hands a copy of the second 
series of Sermons preached in Manchester by Dr. 
M‘Laren. The volume was read and re-read. Many of 
its pages were learned by heart, and studied line by line, 


PREFACE xxi 


that something of the secret of their spiritual power 
and literary grace and charm might be discovered. 
Ever afterwards anything which appeared by M°Laren, 
often in fugitive form, was procured. Gratitude for 
invaluable help and stimulus received has sustained 
this laborious, and interesting, task of making easily 
available the crowning work of the prince of Scripture 
expositors. 

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the services of my 
assistants, by whom much of the actual indexing has 
been done: my daughter (Miss Winifred S. L. Eayrs), 
Mr. J. Leonard Snook, and Mr. W. E. Thomas. 

GEORGE EAYRS. 





CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Ax APPRECIATION of Dr. M‘LAREN, By SIR W. 
RoBERTSON Nicotzt, M.A., LL.D. . ° a Vv 
PREFAOB TO THE INDEX . = = P EN ab 
NoTEs ON THE ARRANGEMENT AND USE OF THE INDEX . XxiV 


THe INDEX TO ‘ExPosITIONS OF HoLy SCRIPTURE’ IN 


THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ; ' : : 1 


NOTES ON THE ARRANGEMENT 
AND USE OF THE INDEX 


1. The books of the Bible are named in the Index in 
their place alphabetically, not in a separate index, nor 
in the order in which they are placed in the Bible. 
Where, however, more than one reference is given on 
any subject, the references are cited in the order in 
which the books appear in the Bible, and in the Zxposi- 
tions: e.g. Genesis appears under G; Genesis iii. 19 has 
several references, thus: Matthew, 265; Luke xiii. 327; 
2 Timothy, 333; Peter, 239, 280. 

2. The volumes containing the Hapositions are cited 
by the first of the names of the Scripture books which 
appear on the back of the volumes. If a book of the 
Bible runs into more than one volume of the Haposi- 
tions, the fuller title is given in the case of the second 
or third volumes containing it: e.g. the volume cited as 
John contains the earlier chapters; the next volume is 
referred to by its fuller title, John ix.; the third, as 
John xv. 

3. When the entries under any subject in the Index 
are numerous, they are generally arranged in apha- 
betical order, particles as a, the, etc. being ignored ; e.g. 
‘Jesus Christ, absent yet present,’ is the first of many 
entries under that general subject. 

4. Some words not usually employed in an index 
appear in this. They are parts of Dr. M°Laren’s titles 
of some expositions which became well known. These 
may be looked for here under their titles. 

5. Many important Scripture terms and phrases were 
explained by Dr. M°Laren. These are given in their 
place in the Index: e.g. ‘According to.’ 





INDEX TO MACLAREN’S EXPOSITIONS 


A 


AARON and the golden calf, 
Exodus, 171 

—— breastplate of, Exodus, 144 

— punishment of, Psalm l., 
222 

— sin of, imitated, m. Samuel, 
224 

ABEL, death of, Genesis, 14 

offering of, Genesis, 15 

ABIDES, what, and what passes, 
Esther, 297 

ABIJAH, wu. Kings, 129 

ABISHAI, Deuteronomy, 369 

ABOMINABLE, sin is, Isaiah, 49, 
379 

ABRAHAM, as God’s 
Hebrews, 421 

— coming in of, Genesis, 80 

— covenant of God with, Gen- 
esis, 101, 107 

— death of, Genesis, 180 

—— as a deliverer, Genesis, 99 

—— failure of, Genesis, 84 

—— faith of, Genesis, 67, 103 

followed God, Genesis, 35 

— gives the name Jehovah- 
Jireh, Genesis, 166 

going forth, Genesis, 77 

the Hebrew, Genesis, 93 

and the Life of Faith, Gen- 
esis, 73, 82 

—— and Lot, Genesis, 70 

— petulant wish of, 
124 





friend, 














Genesis, 


A 


ABRAHAM 
Genesis, 135 

—— reward of, Genesis, 119 

—— trial of, Genesis, 153 

ABSALOM in exile, mn. Samuel, 73 

— the office seeker, m. Samuel, 
86 


pleads with God, 





rebellion of, Psalm li., 124 

ABSENCE from worship, loss by, 
John xv., 318 

ABSTINENCE, Christian, o. Tim- 
othy, 53 

conscientious, Ezekiel, 45 

—— duty of, Philippians, 368 

ABSURDITY of sin, Isaiah, 77 

ACCESS to God, Ezekiel, 288 

into Grace, Romans, 67 








‘ACCORDING TO, Ephesians, 
18-26 

ACCURACY, in Church accounta, 
u. Kings, 23 


ACHAN, sin of, Ezekiel, 94. 

and Israel’s Defeat, Deuter- 
onomy, 145 

ACHOR, valley of, Ezekiel, 94 

ACTIONS from thoughts, Philip- 
pians, 54 

ACTIVITY. and _ contemplation, 
Hebrews, 318 

a perfect man and, Epistles 

of John, 370 

and rest of Christ, Hebrews, 











26 
ACTS, The book of, Acts, 2, 9 


ACTS—ACTS VL 





ACTS, theme of the book of, Acts, 8 | ACTS II. 45, Acts, 59, 172 


AOTS L, Mark, 109 


—— I. 1, Mark ix., 257; John xv., | —— 47, Acts, 59, 88; Romans, 


273; Acts, 1,8; Ephesians, 229; 312; 


Hebrews, 206 





1. Corinthians, 14; mw 
Timothy, 365 


2, Acts, 1, 8 ACTS III. 1-11, Acts, 98 
— 3, Acts, 1, 18 — 12, Matthew, 383; Acts, 98, 
— 4, Acts, 1 174 
— 5, Acts, 1 — 13, Mark ix., 223; Acts, 98 
— 6, Acts, 1 —— 14, Acts, 98, 104 
— 7, Acts, 1, 23; mo. Corinth- |—— 15, Acts, 98, 104; Hebrews, 
ians, 333; Ephesians, 328 173 
— 8, Acts, 1, 328; Hebrews, | —— 16, Acts, 98, 111 
199 —— 26, Acts, 120 
— 9, 10, Acts, 1 ACTS IV. 1-11, Acts, 129 
— ll, u. Samuel, 332; Isaiah | —— 12, Mark ix., 309; Acts, 129, 


xlix., 221; Matthew, 18; Luke, 398 


47; Acts, 1; u. Timothy, 162 
— 12, Acts, 1; Hebrews, 207 


— 13, Acts, 1 
— l4, Acts, 1, 64 
—— 21, 22, Acts, 28 
ACTS II. 1, Acts, 42 
— 2, Acts, 42, 48 


— 13, Acts, 129, 136; m Cor- 
inthians, 287; Philippians, 169 

— l4, Acts, 129 

— 19, Acts, 145 

—— 20, Acts, 145, 153, 258 

—— 21, 22, Acts, 145 

—— 23, Deut., 381; Acts, 145 


— 3, Acts, 42, 48 —— 24, Acts, 145 
— 4, Acts, 42 —— 25, Acts, 145, 163 
— 5, Acts, 42, 237 —— 26, Acts, 145 
— 6-12, Acts, 42 —— 27, Acts, 145, 163 
— 13, Acts, 42, 98; Philippians, | —— 28, Acts, 145 
202 —— 29, Acts, 145, 163; Acts xiii., 
—— 17, Acts, 48 51 
— 21, Philippians, 145 — 30, Acts, 145; xiii, 51 
—— 24, Hebrews, 207 — 31, Acts, 145 


— 32, Acts, 59 


—— 32, Acts, 172 


— 33, Luke xiii., 395; Acts, 59; | ACTS V. 11, Acts, 172 


Hebrews, 207 
— 34, 35, Acts, 59 
— 36, Acts, 59, 67 
— 37-41, Acts, 59 
—— 42, Acts, 59, 79 


—— 17, Acts, 179, 265 

—— 18-28, Acts, 179 

—— 29, Ezekiel, 74; Acts, 179 
— 30, Acts, 179 

— 31, Acts, 179, 186 





— 43, Acts, 59 32, Acts, 179 
_ ——44, Matthew, 268; Acts, 59, | —— 38, 39, Acts, 196 
172 ACIS VI. 3, Acts, 208 





ACTS VI.—ACTS XIV. 8 




















_ ACTS VI. 5, Acts, 208, 238 ACTS XI. 19, Acts, 316 
— 8, Acts, 208 —— 20, 21, Acts, 315 
ACTS VII. 20, Exodus, 13 — 23, u. Kings, 51; Psalm li, 
—— 32, Hebrews, 148 54; Acts, 323; Philippians, 4; 
— 56, Acts, 212; Hebrews, 201 Ephesians, 395 
— 58, Acts, 217 —— 24, Acts, 343 
— 59, Acts, 226 — 26, Acts, 354 
— 60, Acts, 226; 1. Corinthians, | ACTS XII. 2, Acts, 366 
212; Philippians, 194 — 5, Acts, 373 
ACTS VIII. 1-3, Acts, 235 — 7, Acts, 380 
— 4, Isaiahxlix., 203; Acts,235; | —— 8, John ix., 9 
Epistles of John, 317 — 10, 1. Corinthians, 65 
—— 5-17, Acts, 235 — ll, Ezekiel, 61; Acts, 383 
— 21, Acts, 243 —— 12, Peter, 163 
— 26-33, Acts, 248 —— 13, Peter, 386 
—— 34, Isaiah xlix., 275; Acts, 248 | —— 16, Genesis, 141 
35-39, Acts, 248 — 17, Acts, 394 
— 40, Acts, 248, 255 — 20, un. Samuel, 171 
ACTS IX. 1, Acts, 263; ou. Cor- | —— 23, Acts, 380 
inthians, 325 —— 25, Acts xiii., 252 
— 2, Acts, 263, 269 ACTS XIII. 1, Mark ix., 229; Acts 
— 3, Acts, 263 xiii., 1 
— 4, Acts, 263; Philippians, 347 | —— 2, Acts xiii.,1; Ephesians, 263 
— 5, Mark, 99; Acts, 263 © —— 3, 4, Acts xiii., 1 
6, a. Kings, 77; Markix., 107; | —— 5, Acts xiii, 1; ou. Timothy, 
Acts, 263 120 
7, Acts, 263 — 6-8, Acts xiii., 1 
—— 8, Acts, 263; Philippians, 338 | —— 9, Acts xiii., 1, 7 
— 9-12, Acts, 263 — 10-12, Acts xiii., 1 
— 16, Epistles of John, 69 — 13, Acts xiii., 1, 17 
— 17-20, Acts, 263 —— 26-35, Acts xiii., 27 
— 31, Acts, 280 — 36, Acts xiii., 27, 32 
—— 34, 40, Acts, 288 37, Exodus, 97; Acts xiii., 27, 
ACTS X. 1-16, Acts, 295 32 
— 17, Acts, 242, 295 38, o. Samuel, 71; Acts xiii, 
— 18-20, Acts, 295 27 
— 30-42, Acts, 303 —— 39, Acts xiii., 27 
— 43, Acts, 303; Peter, 44 —— 44, 45, Acts xiii., 45 
— 44, Acts, 241, 303 — 46, Acts miii., 45, 52 
— 47, Acts, 241 — 47-51, Acts xiii, 45 
ACTS XI. 1-16, Acts, 310 — 52, Acts xiii., 45, 56 


— 17, Acts, 310; Peter, 171 ACTS XIV. 1, Acts xiii., 45, 50 
— 18, Acts, 310 — 2-7, Acts xiii., 45 


4 ACTS XIV.—ACTS XXVIL. 





ACTS XIV. 11, Acts xiii., 65, 72 

— 12-14, Acts xiii., 65 

— 15, Acts xiii., 65, 138 

— 16, Acts xiii., 65 

— 17, Exodus, 127; Acts xiii., 65 

— 18-22, Acts xiii., 65 

—— 27, Acts xiii., 77 

ACTS XV. 1-6, Acts xiii., 79 

—— 12-29, Acts xiii., 83 

-— 37-38, Acts xiii., 91 

ACTS XVI. 9, m. Kings, 82 

— 10, 11, Acts xiii., 97 

— 13, Acts xiii., 105 

—— 15, Matthew ix., 7l 

—— 19-24, Acts xiii., 114 

— 25-29, Acts xiii., 114; Philip- 
pians, 38 

—— 30, u. Kings, 267; Acts xiii., 
114, 122 

—— 31, Psalm li., 18, 142; Isaiah, 
280; Acts xiii., 114,122; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 163; Ephesians, 205 

—— 32-34, Acts xiii., 114 

ACTS XVII. 1-12, Acts xiii., 131 

— 22-24, Acts xiii., 138 

—— 25, Psalm li., 374; Acts xiii, 

138 

—— 26, 27, Acts xiii., 138 

— 28, Acts xiii, 138; 
pians, 24 

— 29, 30, Acts xiii., 138 

— 31, Acts xiii., 39, 138, 145 

—— 32-34, Acts xiii., 138 

ACTS XVIII. 1-4, Acts xiii., 148 

—— 5, Acts xiii., 148, 155 

— 6-11, Acts xiii., 148 

—— 14, 15, Acts xiii., 165 

ACTS XIX. 1, Acts xiii., 168 

— 2, Ezekiel, 197; Acts xiii, 
168 

— 3-12, Acts xiii., 168 

— 15, Acts xiii., 175 

— 21-27, Acts xiii., 180 


Philip- 


ACTS XIX. 28, Acts xiii. 180 
Ephesians, 7 

—— 29-34, Acts xiii., 180 

ACTS XX. 21, m. Corinthians, 9 

—— 22, 23, Acts xiii., 187 

— 2%, Acts xiii., 187, 
Deuteronomy, 257 

25-31, Acts xiii., 187 

—— 32, Acts xiii., 187, 203 

— 33, 34, Acts xiii., 187 

35, Acts xiii, 187, 212; 
Ezekiel, 337; Philippians, 67 

ACTS XXL. 1-7, Acts xiii., 215 

—— 8-15, Acts xiii., 215, 222, 238 

— 16, Acts xiii., 231 

—— 27-39, Acts xiii., 240 

ACTS XXII. 6-16, Acts xiii., 246 

—— 17-30, Acts xiii., 251 

ACTS XXIII. 11, Matthew ix. 7; 
Acts xiii., 257 

—— 12-22, Acts xiii., 267 

—— 26, Acts xiii., 243 

ACTS XXIV. 2, 3, Acts xiii., 272 

— 10-20, Acts xiii., 281 

—— 21, Acts xiii., 268, 281 

—— 22, 23, Acts xiii., 281 

—— 24, Acts xiii., 281 

—— 25, John xv., 100; Acts xiii. 
281, 287 

ACTS XXYV. 24-27, Acts xiii., 323 

ACTS XXVI. 13, Acts xiii, 265; 
Philippians, 338 

— 14, Acts xiii, 
Philippians, 338 

— 17, Acts xiii., 309 

— 18, Acts xiii., 38, 308; Ephes. 
ians, 42, 67 

— 19, Acts xiii., 299, 322, 328 

—— 20-26, Acts xiii., 322 

— 27, Acts xiii., 338 

—— 28, Acts xiii., 322, 337 

—— 29-32, Acts xiii., 322 

ACTS XXVIL. 13-22, Acts xiii., 348 


194; 








248, 298; 





ACTS XXVII.—AMAZIAH 5 





ACTS XXVII. 23, Acts xiii., 348, 
355 —— and Micaiah, Samuel, 305 

—— 24-26, Acts xiii., 348 and Obediah, m. Samuel, 249 

—— 30-44, Acts xiii., 363 AHASUERUS, Esther, 1, 5, 26 

ACTS XXVIIL. 1-15, Acts xiii., 370 | AHAVA, river, m. Kings, 315 

—— 16, Acts xiii, 370; um. Cor-| AHAZ, fall of, 1. Kings, 215 
inthians, 213 AHTJAH, mo. Samuel, 211 

—— 17-29, Acts xiii., 376 AHIMAAZ, m1. Samuel, 108 

— 30, 31, Acts xiii., 376, 383 AI, Israel’s defeat at, Deuteronomy, 

ADONIJAH, mu. Samuel, 148 146 

ADOPTION, Christian, John, 362; | AIM, the Christian’s, 1. Corinthians, 
Romans, 138, 148; Peter, 289; 151, 366; wu. Corinthians, 283, 
Epistles of John, 14 359 ; Philippians, 138; Hebrews 

— revealed, Romans, 173 178; Peter, 228 


and suffering, Romans, 161 of life, true, m. Timothy, 45 
ADORNING Christian doctrine, 0. Paul’s, m. Corinthians, 331, 337 
Timothy, 132 ‘ ALL POWER,’ Philippians, 99 


AHAB and Elijah, Samuel, 285 

















‘A GREATER THAN JONAS,’ | ‘—— spiritual Blessings,’ Ephes- 
Matthew ix., 192 ians, 8 
*‘ A GREATER THAN SOLOMON,’ | ‘—— things are Yours,’ Deuter- 
Matthew ix., 196 onomy, 209 
AFFECTION, Christian, Acts, 208 ; | ALLY, the Holy Spirit as our, John, 
Romans, 14 15,107; John xv., 67; 0. Timothy, 
——expulsive power of a new, 43 
Ezekiel, 130 ALMOST a disciple, Mark ix.. 74 
—— a preacher’s, for his congre- | ALMSGIVING, ostentatious, Mat- 
gation, Romans, 15 thew, 220 
AFFLICTIONS, divine sympathy | ALONE with Christ, Mark, 323 
in, Isaiah xlix., 230 ALTAR, Gideon’s, Deuteronomy, 
—— and prayer, 0. Corinthians, 75| 225 
AFRAID OF GIANTS, Exodus, 332 | —— of Incense, the, Exodus, 159; 
‘AFTER, BEFORE, WITH, Psalm li., 370 
Genesis, 32 our, Hebrews, 303 
AGABUS, Acts xiii., 220 —— lamp, and table, Exodus, 134 
AGE, a command for, John xv., 382 | —— temple and, 1. Kings, 282 
a critical, o. Kings, 258 ALTARS and sparrows, Psalm kh, 
—— and youth, m. Kings, 290 122 
AGED, youthful spirit of the, | ALTERNATIVE, the moral, 1 Cor- 
Exodus, 95 inthians, 14 
AGONY, the last, Isaiah xlix., 367 | —— the sharp, Peter, 197 
AGRIPPA, Paul and, Acts xiii., 322 | AMAZIAH, un. Kings, 161 
AGUR, Esther, 160 faith of, rewarded, u. Kings, 
AHAB, uo. Samuel, 232, 278 199 











AMBASSADOR’S charge, an, Mat- 
thew ix., 94 

AMBASSADORS for Christ, Mark, 
105 


AMBITION, divisive, Romans, 290 


AMALEK, campaign against, 
Deuteronomy, 325 

AMALEKITES, battle with the, 
Exodus, 72 

— David conquers the, Deuter- 
onomy, 393 

— Saul and the, Deuteronomy, 
374 

AMEN, Isaiah xlix., 238 

— meaning of, Matthew, 295 

AMMONITES, David and the, 
m. Samuel, 49 

AMOS, graphic style of, Ezekiel, 171 

—— the herdman prophet, Ezekiel, 
157 

AMOS IL. Ezekiel, 173 

— 6, Ezekiel, 171 

AMOS III. 2, Exodus, 245; Deuter- 
onomy, 190; Isaiah xlix., 373 

3, Isaiah, 44; Ezekiel, 143; 

Hebrews, 70; Epistles of John, 47 

48, Ezekiel, 163 

AMOS IV. 4-13, Ezekiel, 150 

AMOS V. 4, Ezekiel, 157 

— 5, Ezekiel, 157, 175 

— 6-15, Ezekiel, 157 

AMOS VIL. 1-4, Ezekiel, 163 

— 5, m1. Kings, 82; Ezekiel, 163 

— 6-8, Ezekiel, 163 

AMOS VII. 13, o. Samuel, 226 

AMOS VILL. 1-14, Ezekiel, 169 

— 7, Romans, 388 

AMOS IX. 13, a. Kings, 30 

AMULET, the, m. Corinthians, 107 

AMUSEMENTS, excessive, Esther, 
231 

— impure, Esther, 377 

—— self-sacrifice and, Romans, 326 








AMBASSADOR—ANIMALS 








ANANIAS and Sapphira, 
onomy, 146; Acts, 176 


ANCHOR of the Soul, n. Timothy, 
394 


ANCIENT NONCONFORMIST, 
an, 0. Kings, 361 
ANDREW, Mark, 109; John xv., 
348 
— and John, John, 50 
ANGEL or Annas: whom to obey ? 
Acts, 179 
—of the Covenant, Genesis, 
224; Deuteronomy, 125, 192 
—— the destroying, Isaiah, 165 
—— the encamping, Psalms, 206 
—— the, in Christ’s tomb, Matthew 
xviii., 352; Mark ix., 252, 258, 
274 
— of the Lord, Psalms, 208; 
Isaiah xlix., 228 
Paul and an, Acts, 364 
—— of the Presence, Genesis, 283 
—— the touch of the, Acts, 380 
_ ANGELS, camps of, Genesis, 214 
—— and Christ’s Cross, Peter, 48 
77 
and shepherds, Luke, 40 
—— song of the, m. Kings, 84 
—— visits of, Luke, 4 
‘ANGELS’ of Churches, the, Epistles — 
of John, 241 
ANGELIC ORDERS, the, Romans, — 
212 
ANGER, Christ’s, John, 127 
—— divine, Psalms, 160 
—— and grief of Jesus, Mark, 94 
ANIMALS, God and the, Genesis, 
64; Psalm li., 126 
—— God’s care of, Esther, 160 
—— in Messiah’s reign, Isaiah, 62 











ANNAS—ARK 7 





ANNAS, Mark ix., 216 


—or angel: whom to obey? 
Acts, 179 

ANOINTED, Christians are, Psalm, 
li., 226 


—— and stablished, 1. Corinthians, 
277 

ANOINTING of Christ by Mary, 
Mark ix., 162 

ANSWER, a great question and its, 
Psalms, 105 

man’s, to God’s 

Hebrews, 282 

to the Great Question, Acts 
xiii., 122 

—— to trust, the, Psalms li., 201 

ANTHROPOMORPHISM, Genesis, 
131, 148; Exodus, 164 

— in Scriptures, Genesis, 56, 60, 
66 

ANTICIPATION, the  Lord’s 
Supper and, Matthew xviii., 253 

—— falsified, Isaiah xlix., 164 

ANTIDOTE, the poison and the, 
Exodus, 362 

ANTIOCH, first preaching at, Acts, 
315 

ANXIETY, the 
Philippians, 32 

— needless, Luke, 343, 350 

APIS, Egyptian god, Exodus, 178, 
180 

APOCALYPSE, the, Epistles of 
John, 262, 341, 342, 343, 355, 382 


Voice, 








Christian and, 


APOLLOS and Aquila, Romans, | 


363 
APOLOGIA, Peter’s, Acts, 310 
APOSTACY, growth or, Peter, 245 
— of Joash, u. Kings, 185 
— sin is, Exodus, 202 
—— universal, Genesis, 51 
warning against, 0. Timothy, 
295 





APOSTLE, last words of the last, 
Epistles of John, 39 

— of Peace at any Price, Genesis, 
201 

—— the sleeping, Mark ix., 194 

APOSTLES, work of, Matthew ix., 
60 

—— as witnesses, Acts, 28, 30 

—— the obscure, Matthew ix., 55 

—— the, sent out, Mark, 228 

—— transformation of the, Acts 
153 

APOSTOLIC OFFICE and work, 
Acts, 30 

teaching, oneness of, 1. Cor- 

inthians, 226 

testimony and exhortation, 
Peter, 146 

APPEAL, the divine, Isaiah xlix., 
253 

—— God’s 
145 

APPEARANCES, Christ’s Resur- 
rection, Luke xiii, 362; John 
xv., 317 

APPOINTMENT of Solomon by 
David, Samuel, 148 

APPROPRIATING FAITH, John, 
296 

APPROPRIATION of ancient bles- 
sings, Isaiah, 161 

AQUILA and Priscilla, Acts xiii., 
375; Romans, 357 

ARCHIPPUS, Epistles of John, 283 

‘ARIEL,’ Isaiah, 169 

ARK among the flags, the, Exodus, 
12 

—— THE JEWISH, bringing up, 
Psalms, 105, 112 

—death and life 
Samuel, 14 

—as guide, Deuteronomy, 99, 
103 








ultimate, Mark ix, 


from the, 


8 ARK—ATTACHMENT 





ARK in the house of Obed-Edom, | ASCETICISM of John Baptist, 
the, m. Samuel, 21 Mark, 17 
—— a symbol, Exodus, 322 ASHES, feeding on, Isaiah, 307 
—— in the river, Deuteronomy, 117 , ASIA MINOR, first preaching in, 
Uzzah and the, m. Samuel, 18 Acts xiii., 27 
— NOAH’S, Genesis, 53 ASKING, Matthew, 324 
—— ——-as a figure, Philippians, | ASPIRATION, a fulfilled, Acts 
148 i xiii., 194 
ARM OF THE LORD, Isaiah xlix., Ass, the Devil ig an, Esther, 
88 97 
ARMADA, the Spanish, destroyed, ' ASSIMILATION and transforma- 
Psalms, 358 | tion, 1. Corinthians, 319, 324 
ARMOOR, the Christian’s, Ephes- ASSOCIATION, judgment by, 
ians, 337-80; Philippians, 198 Matthew ix., 243 
—— need of, Romans, 318 ASSURANCE, Psalm li., 341 
—— of Children of the Day, Philip- | —— Christian, Epistles of John, 22 
pians, 198 —— grounds of, Deuteronomy, 387 
—— putting on the, mo. Samuel, |—— and hope, m. Timothy, 372 
268 —— of salvation, Psalms, 172 
ARREST of Jesus Christ, Luke xiii., | ASSYRIA, fall of, Isaiah, 57 
251 | —— language of, Isaiah, 130 
ARROW, God’s last, Mark ix., 144 | —— monuments of, and the Bible, — 
ARROWS of Victory, m. Kings, 24| wo. Kings, 245 
prayers as, Psalm li., 159 ASSYRIANS, destruction of army 
* ART thou a King ?’ John xv., 236 of, m. Kings, 55, 57 




















ARTAXERXES, um. Kings, 310,; ASTRONOMY, messages from, 
334 Isaiah, 268 
ARTEMIS, Acts xiii., 181 ATHALIAH, murders by, m1. Kings, 
ARTICLES OF THE NEW; 14 
COVENANT, Hebrews, 86 ATHENS, Paul at, Acts xiii., 138 
ASA, prayer of, m. Kings, 139 | ATHLETE, the Christian, Philip- 
the reformation under, m.; pians, 361 
Kings, 136, 147 ATHLETICS, spiritual, Philippians, — 
ASAPH, mz. Kings, 80 | 361 
ASCENSION OF CHRIST, Trans- | ATONEMENT, Exodus, 237 
lation of Elijah and the, um. | —— the, Matthew xviii., 249 
Samuel, 322 —— the day of, Exodus, 248 
Luke, 48; Luke xiii, | —— doctrine of, Exodus, 40 
388; Acts, 1; Romans, 1; u. | —— mystery of, Isaiah xlix., 109 
Corinthians, 260 i——theory and fact of the, 
ASCETICISM, Matthew ix., 134;; Hebrews, 307, 325 
Luke, 181 ATTACHMENT by Faith, Hebrews, 


— Christian, Peter, 123 129 





ATTACKS—BEACH | 9 





ATTACKS by unbelief, Isaiah, 144 | AUTHORITY and work, Mark ix., 
ATTRACTIVENESS, Paul’s, Acts 157 








xiii., 271 AUTOBIOGRAPHY, every man 
AUTHORITY, Christ's supreme, writes an, Isaiah, 320 
John xv., 279 AVARICH, Gehazi’s, 1. Samuel, 373 
—— divine, Esther, 84 sin of, Ezekiel, 172 
dogmatic, Esther, 39 AWAKE !, Ephesians, 323 
—— of New Testament, John ix., | AWAKENING of Zion, the, Isaiah 
370 xlix., 51 


— to forgive, Christ’s, Mark, 61 | AWAKINGS, the two, Psalms, 52 


B 


BAAL, Carmel and, 1. Samuel, 254 | BAPTIST UNION, Sermon before 


Jehu and the worship of, m1. ; the, Romans, 30 














Kings, 7 BARABBAS, Matthew xviii., 315; 
—— sleeping, Genesis, 218 Mark ix., 222 
— worship of, 1. Samuel, 227, | BARGAIN, a bad, Genesis, 192 
233; u. Kings, 19 | BARNABAS, Acts, 174 
BABYLON, the church in, Peter, defects of, Acts xiii., 95 
154 | exhortation by, Acts, 323 
predicted fall of, Ezekiel, 64 |'—— ‘a good man,’ Acts, 344 





Rome as, Peter, 155 | 
BACK TO CHRIST, John, 363;; 66 








and Paul at Lystra, Acts xiii., 





Romans, 126 BARTHOLOMEW (Nathanael), 
BACKSLIDER, Demas as, 11. Tim-| Mark, 110 
othy, 115 | BARTIMAUS, Mark ix., 95; Luke 
the restored, Matthew, 186 (| xiii., 145 


——- restoring the, Acts xiii., 27 | BARZILLAI, Samuel, 113 
BALAAM, Genesis, 175; Exodus, | BASE, at the front or the, Deuter- 


271 onomy, 392 

BANISHED ONES, God’s, Samuel, |; BATHSHEBA, um. Samuel, 148; 
73 Psalm li., 1 

BANNER, the Lord is my, Exodus,, BATTLE, a strange, u. Kings, 
72 | 170 

BAPTISM IN FIRE, the, Matthew, | —— without a sword, a, Deuter- 





48 
— of Jesus, Matthew, 64 
—— the rite of, Ephesians, 206 parable of, Isaiah, 165 
BAPTISMAL REGENERATION, | BEACH AND THE SEA, the, John 
Mark, 213 | Xv., 247 


onomy, 244 
BATTLEFIELD AND SHIELD, a 





10 


BEAST, the apocalyptic, Epistles 
of John, 343 

BEASTS at Ephesus, fight with, 
Acts xiii., 180 

BEATITUDE, the first, Matthew, 
108 

the second, Matthew, 117 

the third, Matthew, 126 

— the fourth, Matthew, 135 

the fifth, Matthew, 143 

— the sixth, Matthew, 153 

the seventh, Matthew, 161 

the eighth, Matthew, 171 

the last, of the ascended Christ, 
Epistles of John, 380 

—— the, upon faith, John xv., 325 

BEAUTY, eternal, Psalms li., 177 

the King in His, Psalms, 307 ; 

Matthew ix., 343 

and purity, Ezekiel, 137 

and strength, Ezekiel, 132 

—— transient, Esther, 343 

*BECAUSE of His Importunity,’ 
Genesis, 129 

“BE ... FOR THOU ART, 
Psalms, 164 

“BEFORE GOVERNORS AND 
KINGS,’ Acts xiii., 322 

‘BEFORE WHOM I STAND, a. 
Samuel, 240 

BEFORE, WITH, AFTER, Genesis, 
32 

BEGINNING, the, John, 1 

BEHOLDING, transformation by, 
1. Corinthians, 307 

BELIEF, orthodox, 
115 

—— planting of, Esther, 326 

— what is, John, 99 

unbelieving, Mark ix., 33 

—— is leaning, Genesis, 104 

BELIEVERS, Philippians, 82, 187 

—— are saints, Ephesians, 4 





























Ephesians, 





BEAST—BIBLE 


BELIEVEST THOU?, John is 
81 

‘BELIEVING IS SEEING,’ 1 
Samuel, 381 

—— joy and peace by, Roman 
344; Peter, 34 

—— results of, John ix., 301 

—— rewards of, John, 106 

BELLS ON THE HORSES 
Ezekiel, 155 

BELOVED, Israel the, Deu 
onomy, 57 

BELSHAZZAR, Ezekiel, 63 

BENEDICTION, the, Philipp 
80 

BENJAMIN, Jacob’s son, Genes 
261, 263 

BEREA AND THESSALONICA 
Acts xiii., 131 

BERNICE, Acts xiii., 327, 347 

BESEECHING LOVE, God’s, 
Corinthians, 380 

BEST WISHES, Ephesians, 381 

BETHANY, the open grave 
John ix., 91 

BETHEL, Genesis, 77, 89 : 

BETHESDA, u. Timothy, 35 

BETTING, example of, 1 Co 
inthians, 166 

BEZALEEL, Isaiah, 297 

BIBLE, Authorised Version of the 
Genesis, 148, 213, 229 

—— assaults upon the, Psalm | 
313 

—and Assyrian monuments, I 
Kings, 245 

candour of the, Genesis, 237 

circulating the, Psalm li., 306 

— criticism of the, Psalm li., 30 

—— daily reading of the, Psalm I 
293 

—for the young, Psalm 
288 








BIBLE—BRANCHES 


ll 





BIBLE and rm. 
Timothy, 34 
—— Proverbs in the, Esther, 73 
reading of, brings penitence, 
mu. Kings, 267 
—— Revised Version of, Genesis, 
152, 173, 229 
—— its view of the world, Psalm 
Mae di, OL 
BIER, Jesus at the, Luke, 146 
BIGOTRY, Paul and, Acts xiii., 242 
BILDAD, Esther, 40 
BINDING AND LOOSING, Acts, 
31 
BIRDS, Christ and, Luke, 344 
— God cares for the, Psalm li., 
127 
—— use of, in symbolism, Ezekiel, 
247 
BIRTHRIGHT, 
Genesis, 195, 198 
—— versus pottage, Genesis, 198 
BITTERNESS and BREVITY of 
life, Psalms, 204 
BLASPHEMY charged to Christ, 
Matthew xviii., 290; Luke, 120 
* BLESSED,’ u. Timothy, 164 
— Trust, Psalm li., 139 
BLESSEDNESS, future, 
ians, 70 
—— is happiness, Psalm li., 131, 
139 
—— obedience and, Matthew, 257 
—— and brevity of life, Psalms, 264 
— of giving, Acts xiii., 212 
— of the obedient, Hebrews, 395 
—— and praise, Psalms, 1 
BLESSING, the King’s, Samuel, 
175 
BLIND, the, and the seeing, Mat- 
thew ix., 230 
BLINDNESS cured, Mark ix., 95 
—— and sight, Samuel, 376 


novel-reading, 





the Jewish, 


Ephes- 


BLINDNESS, spiritual, Isaiah, 217 

BLISS, lasting, Esther, 134 

BLOOD, resisting unto, Hebrews, 
209 

BOASTING, Romans, 77 

BODILY LIFE, immortality of the, 
Romans, 179 

BODY, Christ’s glorified, Acts, 19 - 

— Christ’s heavenly, u. Timothy, 
221 

control of the appetites of the, 

Peter, 123 

a glorified, John ix, 275; 

1. Corinthians, 337, 345 

the order of healing the, 

Matthew ix., 8 

redemption of, Romans, 179 

sacrifice of the, Romans, 221 ; 

Peter, 93 

soul, spirit, man as, Luke xiii., 
333 

BOLDNESS, apostolic, Acts xiv., 
153 

BONDAGE, sin as, John, 342, 353 ; 
Romans, 124 

BONES, dry, vision of, Ezekiel, 26 

BOOK, each man writes a, Isaiah, 
320 

— of judgement, Isaiah, 320 

—— OF LIFE, the, Exodus, 176; 
Epistles of John, 254 

names in, Philippians, 11 

God’s, Isaiah xlix., 319 ; Rom- 
ans, 406 

BOX, the alabaster, Mark ix., 162 

BOY as king, no. Kings, 257 

— in the Temple, the, Luke, 62 

BOYS AND GIRLS, a message to, 
Esther, 327. See also Young 

BRANCH, Messiah the, Ezekiel, 
285 

BRANCHES OF VINE, true, John 
xv., 10 


























12 


BRANCHES, oneness of the, John BROTHERHOOD of Christ, 


xv., 28 

BRAND, the owner's, 
inthians, 189 

BREAD, Christ gives the true, 
John 253, 257 

Christ as the living, John, 289 

—— and crumbs, Matthew ix., 314 

the cry for, Matthew, 260 

— from heaven, Luke, 254 

—— or gravel, Esther, 236 

— of God, the, Exodus, 65 

—— of the Presence, the, Exodus, 
126 

—— the world’s, Mark, 262 

BREAD-BREAKING at Emmaus, 
Luke xiii., 350 

BREAKER, Christ the, Ezekiel, 
206 

BREASTPLATE, the names on 
Aaron’s, Exodus, 144 

BRETHREN, Christians as, Philip- 
plans, 82, 89 

BRIDAL OF EARTH AND SKY, 
Psalm li., 148 

BRIDE, the Church as, Psalms, 317 

BRIDEGROOM, Christ as the, 
Mark, 76 

BRIGHT, John, Exodus, 95 

BRITISH EMPIRE, English 
Christians and the, Ezekiel, 226 

BROTHER, a Christian, Romans, 
404 

—— saving a, John, 86 

BROTHERHOOD and fatherhood, 
Matthew, 240; Romans, 405 


m Cor- 








CAESAR, saints in household of, 
Genesis, 49 


OZSAREA, Paul at, Acts xiii., 219 | —— Christ before, John xv., 230 


BRANCHES—CAIAPHAS 


Cc 















Timothy, 239 
—— duties of, Genesis, 269 
BROWNING, ROBERT, quoted, 
Genesis, 77, 205; Exodus, 12; 
Deuteronomy, 77 
BUILDER, the rash, Luke xiii., 38 
BUILDERS of character, tested, 
1. Corinthians, 45 


— in silence, Samuel, 172 

—— in troubloustimes, a. Kings, 291 

—— and tent, 1. Corinthians, 333 

BUNYAN, JOHN, Genesis, 250 

BURDEN BEARING, a. Cor- 
inthians, 171 

by God, Psalm li., 93 

BURNING BUSH, the, Exodus, 
19; Deuteronomy, 61 

BURNS, ROBERT, quoted, Gene- 
sis, 183 

BURNT OFFERING, a picture 
a prophecy, the, Exodus, 233 





188; Mark, 148 

BUSINESS, unscrupulous, Ezekiel, 
172 

BUTLER, Bishop Joseph, Exod 
366 

‘BUIS’ of Scripture, the, 
sis 250; Deuteronomy, 387 


CAIAPHAS, Matthew xviii., 287 
Mark ix., 216; John ix., 107 


CAIN—CENTURIES 


CAIN, answer of, Genesis, 18 

— the mark on, Genesis, 21 

— results of sin of, Genesis, 23 

—— sentence on, Genesis, 19 

— worship of, Genesis, 15 

CALEB, green old age of, Deuter- 
onomy, 160 

CALF, THE GOLDEN, Exodus, 
171 


—— worship of the, m1. Samuel, 223 


CALL, God’s, to man, Psalms, 149 

— of Matthew, Matthew ix., 18 

— of Moses, Exodus, 26 

—— of Samuel, Deuteronomy, 270 

— to faith, Isaiah xlix., 39 

—— to the thirsty, Isaiah xlix., 134 

—. Wisdom’s, Esther, 77 

CALLING, the Christian’s, Philip- 
pians, 259 

—— the hope of the, Ephesians, 52 

—— the, and the kingdom, Ephes- 
ians, 194 

— worthy of your, Philippians, 
256 

OALLS, Christ’s, Epistles of John, 
393 

CALMNESS, Christian, Acts xiii., 
361 

CALMS AND CRISES, Isaiah xlix., 
272 

CALUMNY on Christ, Luke, 179 

CALVARY, site of, Matthew xviii., 
318 

CAN AND CANNOT, John ix., 210 

CANA, miracle at, John, 114 

CANAAN explored, Exodus, 333 

life in, Genesis, 84 

versus Haran, Genesis, 80 

CANAANITES, the, Genesis, 75 

destruction of the, Deuter- 
onomy, 325 

CANDLESTICKS, emblem 
Epistles of John, 146, 149, 171 











of, 


13 


CANDLESTICKS, the seven, Epis- 
tles of John, 170 

CANNOT AND CAN, John ix., 210 

CAPERNAUM, Matthew ix., 138 

— a Sabbath in, Luke, 95 

CAPTAIN, Christ as, Ezekiel, 212 

Jesus as, Acts, 186 

of the Lord’s Host, 
Deuteronomy, 123 

CAPTIVE CHRIST and the circle 
round him, Mark ix., 203 

CAPTIVITY, deliverance from, 
Isaiah xlix., 12 

effect of, m. Kings, 280 

—— Jewish, a type, Isaiah, 230, 
246 

—— sin’s, Isaiah xlix., 71 

CAPTORS, Christ and His, John 
xv., 219 

CARCASS and the eagles, Ezekiel, 
163 

CARE, anxious, Matthew, 311 

CARMEL, Elijah at, om. Samuel, 
255 

CARPENTER, Jesus, son of a, 
John, 88 

CARRIERS must be clean, Isaiah 
xlix., 75 

CARRION and vultures, Matthew 
Xviii., 157 

CASE, a test, Philippians, 335 

CATALOGUE, an eloquent, John 
xv., 338 

CATHOLICITY, true, Acts, 330; 
Ephesians, 391 

CENTRAL TRUTHS, John, 294 

CENTRE of the universe, Christ’s 
Cross the, 1. Peter, 41 

to circumference, 
Corinthians, 91 

CENTURY, a new, Esther, 297 

CENTURIKS, four shaping, Exo- 
dus, 1 





the, 








from, 1. 





14 


CEREMONIAL, Jewish, Ephesians, 
159 

CEREMONIALISM, ua. Corinth- 
ians, 315 

CEREMONIES, place of, m. Cor- 
inthians, 148 


CERTAINTIES in Christ, 1 Cor- 
inthians, 269 
— three triumphant, Epistles 


of John, 12-39 

CERTAINTY and Joy of the 
Resurrection, 1. Corinthians, 230 

CERTITUDE, Christian, as to 
future, 1. Corinthians, 337 

CHALDEA, Kingdom of, Ezekiel, 
50 

—— learning of, Ezekiel, 45 

CHALLENGE and Charge, 

Samuel’s, Deuteronomy, 311 

CHANGEFUL LIVES, Christ and 
our, Hebrews, 286, 295 

CHANGEFULNESS, man’s, 
Christ’s love, Mark ix., 289 

CHANGES in fifty years, Acts xiii., 
276 

CHARACTER, building of, Philip- 
pians, 221 , 

of a Christian, Matthew, 109- 

170, 179 

the Christian’s witness to, 

Ephesians, 10, 79 

and circumstances, Ezekiel, 69 

cultivation of, Esther, 232 

habit and, Isaiah xlix., 171 

holiness and, Peter, 315 

—— an impulsive, Genesis, 197 

—— the making of, Deuteronomy, 
43 


and 























permanence of, Isaiah xlix., 
275; Luke xiii., 100; Ephesians, 
201 

—— man’s responsibility for his, 
nm. Timothy, 39 


CEREMONIAL—CHILDREN ‘ 





















CHARACTER, the robe of, Epistle 
of John, 382 j 

— the world used for makin 
Luke xiii., 99 

— zealous for Christian, 1. 
othy, 185 

CHARGE, Christ’s, to his herald 
Matthew ix., 68 

—— of the Pilgrim priests, m. King; 
317 

—— of watchers in Temple, Psalr 
li., 349 

—— the risen Lord’s, John xv., 20 

——Samuel’s Challenge and 
Deuteronomy, 311 

king’ 


—to ambassadors, a 
Matthew ix., 94 

—— to the soldier of the Lord, tk 
Deuteronomy, 91 

—— to Solomon by David, nu. Kings, 
101 

CHARIOT of Fire, the, Samuel, 3 

CHARM, the evil eye and the, 
Corinthians, 100 

CHARTER of Gentile liberty, 
Acts xiii., 83 


—— of righteous, m. Kings, 246 
—— See also Discipline 
CHEERFULNESS, exhortation tc 
Matthew ix., 33 
CHILD, lessons from a, Mark ix., 
47 7 
—— as prophet, the, Deuteronom 
267 
CHILDHOOD as a type, Mark iz 
70; Luke xiii., 139 
CHILDLESSNESS, sorrow of, 
Luke, 3 
CHILDREN and ehildlike men, 
Mark ix., 70 
—— choosing for, Genesis, 90 


CHILDREN—CHRISTIANS 


15 





CHILDREN, Christ blessing, Mark | CHRISTIAN, 


ix., 70 

— Christ’s disciples as, John ix., 
210 

—— and the Church, Mark ix., 72 

— of the city, Genesis, 16 

— of the day, Philippians, 198 

— of the devil, Romans, 154 

— of God, Romans, 154; Peter, 
296 

— future of, Peter, 301 

— as imitators, Ephesians, 270 

— of light, Ephesians, 277 

— naming, Exodus, 80 

— and parents, Exodus, 110 

— suffer for parents’ sin, Exodus, 
103 

CHOICE, a foolish, Genesis, 179 

— the importance of a, Genesis, 
85 

— Lot’s, Genesis, 84 

man’s power of, Acts xiii., 333 

—— man’s, of God, Psalms, 31 

— of masters, the, Deuteronomy, 
22 

— of wisdom, Samuel, 154 

CHOIR, the heavenly, Epistles of 
John, 342 

CHOIRS, temple, Psalms li., 193 

— David’s, u. Kings, 79 

CHRIST. See Jesus Christ 

CHRISTIAN, activity of the, 
Exodus, 49 

—— aim of the, m. Corinthians, 283 

— calling and life of a, Ephes- 
ians, 195 

character, Deuteronomy, 221 ; 

Matthew, 109-170, 179 

the, is Christ’s likeness, Peter, 
339, 355 

— conduct, Philippians, 170, 258 

— an aged, n. Timothy, 69 

— consistency, Deuteronomy, 383 











critics and_ the, 

Ezekiel, 71 

elements of the life of the, 

Ephesians, 379 

endeavour, Philippians, 114 

the enthroned, Epistles 

John, 319 

faith, Hebrews, 407 

festal life of, 1. Corinthians, 84 

foes of the, Exodus, 298 

— the, and good works, m. Tim- 
othy, 190 

—— graces, Romans, 267-304 

helpfulness, Genesis, 100 

—— the heritage of the, Ephesians, 
150 

—— as Messiah, Psalms li., 227 

—— a, must testify, m. Samuel, 391 

—— as priest, Psalm li., 246 

— as statesman, Exodus, 93 

the test of a, Peter, 321 

—— unworldliness of the, Hebrews, 
316 

workers, instructions to, Luke, 

103 

a, is a saint, Ephesians, 1 

—— joy, u. Kings, 380; Esther, 189 

— asa king’s potter, 0. Kings, 74 

the knowledge of the, Epistles 
of John, 12-39 

—— liberality, u. Corinthians, 21 

CHRISTIANS as ‘ Christ’s,’ 1 Cor-- 
inthians, 281 

—— as heavenly citizens, um. Cor- 
inthians, 393 

as kings and priests Ephes- 

ians, 135 

as lights, Mark, 154 

—— as specimens of God’s work- 
manship, Hebrews, 381 

—— as witnesses, John xv., 76 

—— beautify the gospel, mu. Tim- 
othy, 132 








of 



































16 


CHRISTIANS—CHRISTIANITY 





CHRISTIANS are Christ’s slaves, 
Acts, 169 

— Christ’s glory by, Philippians, 
251 

— are debtors to all, Romans, 
23 

—— are God’s portion, Isaiah xlix., 
268 

are hated by world, John xyv., 
50, 58 

—— how men become, Genesis, 94 

make the Gospel beautiful, 

um. Timothy, 132 

must be separate, Genesis, 96 ; 

Ezekiel, 104 

the name of, Acts, 354 

names for, Acts, 360; Philip- 
pians, 82 

—— native land of, Hebrews, 139 

obligations of, Matthew, 268; 

Matthew ix., 245 

pliable, Isaiah xlix., 246 

—— privileges of the, Romans, 6 

—— reveal Christ, m. Timothy, 39 

silent, Samuel, 390 

— spirit-filled, Acts xiii., 58 

—— victorious, Epistles of John, 
332 

—— why in the world? Peter, 103 

zealous, 1. Timothy, 181 

CHRISTIAN LIFE as a conflict, 
Exodus, 75 

—— is progressive, Esther, 









































CHRISTIAN LIFE, marks of 
John xv., 141 
—— — security of the, John i: 


—— —— paradoxes of the, t. Corir 
thians, 112; m. Corinthians, 91 

—— — isa risen life, Philippian 
135 

CHRISTIAN PROGRESS, P 
pians, 124 

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, nm. Ki 
135 

CHRISTIAN SERVICE, the 
fare of, Exodus, 297 

—— —— manner of, Mark ix., 16 

—— —— model of, Romans, 384 

—— UNITY, u. Corinthians, 246 

CHRISTIANITY, the altar c 
Hebrews, 304 

applied, John, 287 

—— audacity of, Mark ix., 308 

—— cheerful, Mark, 85 

—— corruptions of, m. Timothy, 8 

—— essentials and forms of, & 
Corinthians, 148 

—and Jewish ritual, Heb: 
306 





| —— is missionary, 11. Samuel, 


—— made beautiful, o. Timoth 


109 
—— — activity of the, John ix., 132 
25 —— mission of, John xv., 310 
— aim of a, Philippians, 362 | —— and morality, m. Corinthians, 
— —— duality of the, u. Cor- | —— and other religions, Hebrew 
inthians, 98, 156 41 
— the ideal, 1. Corinthians, | —— secret of vitality of, 
7; ou. Timothy, 150 xlix., 113 
—— features of the, mm |—— and the slums, m. Kings, 
Timothy, 268 348 


CHRISTIANITY—CHURCH 


17 





CHRISTIANITY unites all classes, | 11. CHRON. XVIL. 16, n. Kings, 161 


Romans, 369, 375, 381, 401 

— the way of, Acts, 269 

—— and woman, Romans, 355, 359, 
381 

CHRISTMAS, a sermon for, @. 
Corinthians, 27 

I. CHRON. III. 19, m. Kings, 285 

I. CHRON. IV. 23, u. Kings, 74 

I. CHRON. V. 20, Romans, 281 ; 
Philippians, 357 

IL CHRON. VI. 32, R.V. Margin, 
mt. Kings, 79 

I. CHRON. X., Deuteronomy, 404 

I. CHRON. XII. 15, Deuteronomy, 
108 

—— 33, u. Kings, 87 

I. CHRON. XVII. 3, u. Kings, 102 

I. CHRON. XXII. 6-16, n. Kings, 96 

I. CHRON. XXII 1, mo. Kings, 101 

LCHRON. XXVIL. 3, m. Samuel, 31 

T. CHRON. XXVIII. 1-10, 1. Kings, 
106 

I. CHRON. XXIX. 14, Exodus, 132; 
Acts xiii., 214 

— 15, Psalms, 271 

—— 30, n. Kings, 106 

IL. CHRON. VI. 41, 1. Corinthians, 


If. CHRON. VIL 12-13, R.V., 
mu. Kings, 114 

Il. CHRON. XII. 8, m Kings, 
121 


Ii. CHRON. XIII. 14, Philippians, 
233 

—— 18, u. Kings, 129 

It. CHRON. XIV. 2-8, no. Kings, 
136 

—— ll, 1. Kings, 139 

I. CHRON. XV. 15, 1. Kings, 147 

IL CHRON. XVI. 1, m. Kings, 138 

— 1-10, u. Kings, 155 

—— 7-9, u. Kings, 166 


Il. CHRON. XIX. 1-11, m. Kings, 
165 

Il. CHRON. XX. 12, Genesis, 291 ; 
nm. Kings, 170 

II. CHRON. XXIII, nm. Kings, 15 

Il. CHRON. XXIV., Matthew xviii., 
145 

— 7, Luke xiii., 201 

—— 4-14, n. Kings, 191 

—— 2-17, m. Kings, 184 

—— 18, n. Kings, 188 

Il. CHRON. XXY. 9, Genesis, 
102; om. Kings, 199; Isaiah xlix., 
42; u. Timothy, 202 

Il. CHRON. XXVILI. 6, nm. Kings, 
207 

Il. CHRON. XXVIII. 23, n. Kings, 
215 

Il. CHRON. XXTIX. 1-11, m. Kings, 
225 

—— 18-31, u. Kings, 232 

Il. CHRON. XXX. 1-13, o. Kings, 
238 

—— 17, Kings, 300 

Il. CHRON. XXXII. 1, o. Kings, 
243 

—— 7, Deuteronomy, 248 

Il. CHRON. XXXII 9-16, 
Kings, 251 

It. CHRON. 
Kings, 257 

—— 14-28, nu. Kings, 262 

I. CHRON. XXXV. 11-14, 
Kings, 300 

Il. CHRON. XXXVL 11-21, m. 
Kings, 269 

—— 22, Ezekiel, 40 

CHRONOLOGY, scriptural, Eze- 
kiel, 261 

CHURCH, the, Romans, 361 

accurate finance of, m1. Kings, 


i 


XXXTY. 1-13, a. 


pee 





23 


18 CHURCH 


CHURCH, alternations in history | CHURCH, neglected er of 








of, Isaiah xlix., 52 Mark, 59 
—— beginnings of the, John, 50 —— notes of the early, ela 79 
—— mistaken building of a, Kings, | —— order of the, Mark ix., 157 
352 —— organization of early, 
—— and children, Mark ix., 72 xiii., 224 
— Christ works with His, Isaiah | —— the, and payment of minister 
xlix., 204 Philippians, 58, 67 
— Christ cleanses His, John, 129 | —— persecution of the early, Act 
—— Christ’s presence in the, Isaiah, 129 
170; Epistles of John, 184 —— polity, Genesis, 125 
—— Christians outside the, John | —— purpose of the, Philippian 
ix., 49 165 
—— and the civil power, Acts, 163, | —— resources of the, Isaiah xli 
179, 198 69 
— condition of the early, Acts, |—— scepticism and a revived, 
172 Psalm li., 320 
—— controversy in early, m. Cor-|—— the sleeping, Isaiah ii 
inthians, 138 59 
—— drought in the, Isaiah xlix., | —— social problems and, Hebrews: 
285 9 
—— equality of service in, u. Tim- | —— the, and social evils, m. Kings 
othy, 78 334 
—— factions in, t. Corinthians, 65 |—— the, and social reforms, m1. 
the family and the, Genesis, 84 Kings, 338, 343 
—— feeds the world, Matthew ix., | —— and State, relation of, Acts 
284 xiii., 385; see also Civil Power 
—— the sunlit, Isaiah xlix., 186 —— the task of, Luke xiii., 379 
—— and the Gentiles, Acts, 295 —— unity of the, Acts, 327; Ephe- 
—— history of, in brief, John, 271 sians, 203, 394 
—— in Babylon, the, Peter, 154 — unity and diversity of the, 
—— increase of, by purity, Acts,| Romans, 246, 249 
88 —— view of the early, Acts, 280 
—— indestructibility of, Psalms, | —— walls and gates of the, 
360 xlix., 189 
the infant, Acts, 66 —— a, without rebuke, Epistl 
—— living, yet dead, Epistles of | John, 259, 267 
John, 235 —— woman’s place in, Romans, 
— message of the, Isaiah, 250 353, 382 
—— missionary,summonsto, Isaiah | —— order and variety in work of, 
xlix., 182 a. Kings, 86 


——pneeds Holy Spirit, Mark, | —— worship in primitive, 1. Corin- 
245 thians, 2 


CHURCH MEETING—-CLOUD 


CHURCH MEETING, A, at Jeru- 

salem, Acts xiii., 82 
—— MEMBERSHIP, Mark, 213 

*CHURCH IN DANGER,’ cry, 
John ix., 111 

CHURCHES, decayed, Matthew, 
187 

—and wministers, symbols of, 
Epistles of John, 171 

— and their work, Epistles of 
John, 177 

CIRCUMCISION, Genesis, 121; 
I. Corinthians, 93; uu. Cor- 
inthians, 136 

— covenant of, Genesis, 107 

— insufficiency of, m Cor- 
inthians, 316 

or faith, m. Corinthians, 136 

*CIRCUMSPECTLY, Ephesians, 
333 

CIRCUMSTANCES and character, 
Ezekiel, 69 

— the Christian and his, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 119 

— conquest of, Romans, 372; 
Ephesians, 7 

—— independence of, Psalms, 177 

CISTERNS, fountain and, Isaiah | 
xlix., 249 

CITIZENS, duty of Christians as, 
Ezekiel, 225 

— Christians as heavenly, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 233, 393; Philippians, | 
12 

— in God’s new city, Epistles of 
John, 366 

— with God, Isaiah, 109 

CITIZENSHIP, obligations 
Isaiah xlix., 325 





of, 


19 


CITY, dangers of life in a, Epistles 
of John, 287 

— of God, Psalms, 327 

— our strong, Isaiah, 102 

a repentant, Ezekiel, 192 

—— sins of a, Matthew ix., 141 

—— sins and sorrows of, Acts xiii. 
279 

and the tent, Hebrews, 120 

terms of entrance to the new, 

Epistles of John, 389 

an unwalled, Esther, 

Ezekiel, 273 

the way to the, Esther, 381 

CITIES, Christianity entering, Acts 
xili., 45 

—— of refuge, Deuteronomy, 168; 
Philippians, 149 

— song of two, Isaiah, 95 

CIVIL POWER, Church and the, 
Acts, 163, 179, 198; Acts xiii. 385 

CLAIMED, unwon but, Deuter- 
onomy, 158 

CLAIMS of Christ, John ix., 254 

CLASSES, all, united in Christ, 
Romans, 369, 375, 381, 401 

‘ CLEANSE,’ Psalms, 75, 83 

CLEANSING by fire, Matth-.:, 57, 
60 

—— by the Spirit, Mark ix., 56, 
64 

—— Christ’s power for, Mark ix., 
304 

the first stage in, Exodus, 

247 

need of, Isaiah, 6 

progressive, Peter. 259 

CLIMAX of all prayer, Ephesians, 
171 














2743 














CITY, citizens, and king, Epistles | CLINGING and fleeing, nm. Tim- 


of John, 366 
— God’s new, Epistles of John, 
351, 354, 366 


othy, 384 
CLOUD and fire, pillar of, Isaiah 
12 


CLOUD of witnesses and their 
Leader, Hebrews, 165 

CLOUDS, message of the, Psalms, 
45 

COFFIN in Egypt, a, Genesis, 328 

COIN in fish’s mouth, Matthew ix., 
374 

— as a symbol of man, Luke xiii., 
196 

COL. I. 2, Philippians, 82, 289 

—— 5, Philippians, 92 

— 9, 10, Philippians, 101 

— 10, Ephesians, 195, 197, 198; 
Philippians, 102 

— ll, Ephesians, 138; Philip- 
pians, 99 

— 12, Philippians, 106 

— 12, 1. Corinthians, 347; Peter, 
261 

— 13, Genesis, 95 

—— 14, o. Samuel, 71 


— 17, Deuteronomy, 126; Peter, | 


51 

— 18, Acts xiii., 29 

— 19, Ephesians, 173 

— 20, Romans, 51 

— 24, u. Corinthians, 353 

— 27, Ephesians, 7; 
pians, 95 

— 29, Philippians, 114 

COL. II. 3, Isaiah, 140; Peter, 78 

— 6, 7, Philippians, 124 

—— 9, John, 16; 1. Corinthians, 49 

— 14, Exodus, 366; Isaiah, 294 

— 15, Exodus, 366 

COL. III. 1, m. Corinthians, 397; 
Philippians, 127,134; Hebrews, 83 

— 2, Ephesians, 382; Philippians, 
68, 127, 134 

»—— 3, John, 160; m. Corinthians, 
341; Ephesians, 8, 15; Philip- 
pians, 127, 383; Hebrews, 205, 
239 


Philip- 


CLOUD—COMMISSION 


—— 6-9, Philippians, 127 

—— 10, Ephesians, 251, 254, 260; 
Philippians, 127 

—— 11-15, Philippians, 127 

COL. IV. 5, Philippians, 143 


—— 10, Peter, 161 

— 11, Acts, 68 

—— 17, Epistles of John, 284 

COLDNESS in death, Isaiah, 172 

COLLECTION, Paul’s, a. 
inthians, 20, 36 

COLOGNE, cathedral at, E 





COLT, Christ claims a, Mark ix., 1 

‘COME and see,’ John, 57, 90 

—— and take, John’s Epistles, 4 

COMFORTER given, the, John i 
320 


COMINGS, the, of Jesus 
a. Timothy, 163, 165 

COMMAND for youth and age, a, 
John xiv., 382 

COMMANDMENT, Christ’s 
John ix., 226 

—— the end of the, Philippians, 
298 

—— the old and yet new, Peter, 26 

COMMANDMENTS, the Ten. 8S 
Decalogue 

‘COMMENDETH,’ Romans, 
103 

COMMERCE, crises in, Esther, 37 

— debt of, to missions, Acts, 16: 

COMMISSION, the great, Matthe 
Xviii., 375 


COMMISSION—CONFIDENCE 


COMMISSION the new leader’s, 
Deuteronomy, 87 
—  Peter’s triple, 
380 

the world-wide, Mark ix., 308 

COMMON LIFE, Christ and, Mat- 
thew ix., 132; Luke, 182 

— —— hallowed, John, 117 

—— —— sacredness of, Acts, 389 

COMMONPLACES, important gos- 
pel, Isaiah xlix., 143 

COMMUNION, God and man in, 
Ezekiel, 145 

— which transforms, Acts, 140 

— with God, Psalms li., 144 

—— stages of, Esther, 57 

— results of, Ezekiel, 242 

COMMUNISM, early Christian, 
Acts, 174; Philippians, 380 

COMPANION, the divine, Genesis, 
51 

— a, in the fire, Ezekiel, 62 

—— a stedfast, o. Timothy, 122 

COMPANIONS, divine, Peter, 257 

— of Christ are workers, John’s 
Epistles, 74 

— God and man as, Ezekiel, 
143 

COMPANIONSHIP, Christ’s grati- 
tude for, Luke xiii., 239 

—— transforming, Acts, 137 

COMPASSION for a crowd, Mat- 
thew, ix. 51 

—— of God and the godly, Psalm 
li., 260 

COMPENSATIONS, divine, 1. 
Kings, 204; Isaiah, 27; Isaiah 
xlix., 42 

—to the persecuted, Matthew, 
175 

COMPROMISE, a, m. Kings, 217 

— doctrine of, um. Samuel, 372 

the religion of, m1. Kings, 46 


John xv., 








21 


CONCENTRATION, Christian, m. 
Corinthians, 362 


CONCLUSION of the matter, 
Esther, 402 
‘CONDEMNATION,’ four  ele- 


ments in, Psalms, 224 

no, Psalms, 220 

which condemns the judges, 
Mark ix., 211 

CONDESCENSION, Christ’s, a. 
Corinthians, 254 

CONDUCT, Christian, Philippians, 
170 

ereed and, Acts, 274; um. Cor- 
inthians, 382 

—— from creed, Psalms li., 297 

from faith, u. Kings, 53 

a guide to, John ix., 313 

—— asa test, Peter, 324 

















— is three-fourths of life, 
Romans, 221 
and thoughts of death, 





Romans, 315 

CONFERENCE, a Church, Acts 
xiii., 84 

CONFESSING CHRIST, Matthew 
ix., 95; John ix., 251 

CONFESSION and _ forgiveness, 
Isaiah, 41 

—— glad, John xv., 168 

the great, Matthew ix., 322 

—— of faith, a short, Acts xiii, 
355 

CONFESSOR, Christ as, Philip- 
pians, 371 

David the, Ezekiel, 76 

—— a denier and, John xv., 322 

Nicodemus as, John, 149, 152 

CONFESSORS, many, but witness 
one, Philippians, 370 

youthful, Ezekiel, 40, 55 

CONFIDENCE,  Christ’s 
Isaiah xlix., 30 














filial, 


B2 


CONFIDENCE, Christian, Esther, 
62 

— false, Psalm li., 35 

— godless and godly, Psalms, 24 

— godly, Psalms, 47 

—— ground of, Psalm li., 90 

—— in gospel message, Romans, 43 

— joyful, Psalms, 288 

— need of, u. Timothy, 296 

— of the aged Christian, m. Tim- 
othy, 69 

— Paul’s dying, u. Timothy, 124 

—— and quietness, Isaiah, 155 

—and rejoicing hope, om. Tim- 
othy, 268 

CONQUERORS, Christ and Chris- 
tians are, I. Corinthians, 297 

— more than, Samuel, 49 

CONQUEST, man’s, by Christ’s 
help, Genesis, 31 

CONSCIENCE as judge, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 79 

— awaking, Luke xiii., 111, 292 

— the Christian, Timothy, 31 

— education of the, Esther, 199 ; 
Psalms, 74 

— is God’s voice, Genesis, 18, 20 

— a keen, mu. Corinthians, 207 

— lulled, Acts xiii., 289 

the Nonconformist, Ezekiel, 

224 

Herod’s startled, Mark, 247 

a perverted, Matthew xviii., 
300 

— power of, Timothy, 15 

a silent, Ezekiel, 175 

— voices of, Psalm li., 86 

— and will, Peter, 271 

working of, Genesis, 244 

CONSCIOUSNESS, subliminal, 
Psalms, 70 

CONSECRATION iis salvation, 
Hebrews, 379 

















CONFIDENCE—CONVERSION 











CONSECRATION, the joy 
Exodus, 261 
—— and purifying, m. Corin 
6 
CONSEQUENCES, forgiveness an 
Psalms, 174 
CONSIDERING others, 1. 
inthians, 166 
CONSISTENCY, Ezra’s, mu. Ki 
312 
CONSOLIDATION and good hope 
Philippians, 267 
CONSTRAINED by the Word, 
Acts xiii., 155 


of John, 370 
CONTEMPT for idols, 
185 


CONTINUITY, law of, Isaiah 
171 
CONTRAST, many-sided, 


wisdoin and folly, Esther, 155 

CONTROVERSY, a Church, 
Corinthians, 138 

CONVERSATION, Christ in, Johr 
91, 152, 196 

—— of the risen Christ, Acts, 22 

CONVERSION, conscious, Genesis, 
94 

—— decline after, Epistles of Job 
217 

—— examples of, Acts xiii., 38 

and habit, Isaiah xlix., 278 

—— need of, Matthew ix., 185 

— Paul’s, Acts xiii., 9, 246, 247, 
334 

—— proofs of, Ezekiel, 133 

a sudden, Acts xiii., 130, 247 








CONVERT—I. COR. VII. 23 





CONVERT, a Gentile, Deuter- | I. COR. III. 13, 1. Corinthians, 39 








onomy, 259 —— 15, Genesis, 92; Matthew ix., 
CONVICTION by Holy Spirit, John | 121; 1. Corinthians, 138; Philip- 
xv., 95, 99 pians, 387 
CO-OPERATION, divine and 16, 1. Corinthians, 47 
human, Isaiah xlix., 213 ——17, Genesis, 52; 1. Cor- 
—— man’s, with grace, 1. Cor- inthians, 55 
inthians, 223 — 18, 1. Corinthians, 47; 0. Cor- 
COPIES of Christ, Acts, 288 inthians, 34 
—— of Jesus, o. Corinthians, 287 | —— 21, 1. Corinthians, 56, 303; 
— of things in the heavens, the,} su. Timothy, 215 
Exodus, 223 — 22, Genesis, 123; uo. Samuel, 
L. COR. I. 2, 1. Corinthians, 1 305; u. Kings, 371; 1. Cor- 
—— 9, Deuteronomy, 3; u. Tim- inthians, 56 
othy, 61 —— 21-23, 1. Corinthians, 65 
— 14, Acts xiii., 153 —— 23, Psalms li., 229; 1. Cor- 
— 18, Acts, 97; 1. Corinthians, inthians, 65; Epistles of John, 
10 138 
—— 22, 1. Corinthians, 25 I. COR. IV. 2, Exodus, 273 
— 23, Acts xiii, 145; 1. Cor- | —— 3, Exodus, 295; mu. Samuel, 
inthians, 23; wm. Timothy, 30; 245; 1. Corinthians, 202 
Hebrews, 11 — 4, Esther, 202; Psalms, 713 
—— 24, Hebrews, 59 I. Corinthians, 74; uu. Cor- 
— 26, Romans, 367 inthians, 241; Philippians, 333 
— 27, Deuteronomy, 339 —— 5, Peter, 33 
—— 30, Genesis, 106 — 7, Romans, 243; 1. Cor- 
I. COR. II. 2, Romans, 45; 1. Cor- inthians, 223 
inthians, 19 I. COR. V. 7, Exodus, 40, 46; 1 
—— 3, 1. Corinthians, 20, 28 Corinthians, 83, 87 
—— 9, u. Timothy, 399 I. COR. VI. 11, m. Corinthians 2, 
I. COR. III. 1, Hebrews, 90 116; Hebrews, 172 
— 2, 1. Samuel, 333 — 12, u. Kings, 314 
— 4, 1. Corinthians, 265 —— 17, Genesis, 106; 1. Cor 
—— 5, Deuteronomy, 172 inthians, 49; Ephesians, 223 
— 6, Luke xiii., 172 — 19, Acts xiii, 353; 1. Cor- 
—— 8, Epistles of John, 77 inthians, 179 
—— 9, Ezekiel, 309; Philippians, |—— 20, Romans, 230; wu. Cor- 
228; 0. Timothy, 355 inthians, 192, 199 - 
— 10, Matthew, 360 I. COR. VII. 7, Ephesians, 215 
11, Matthew, 356; Philip- | —— 19, 1. Corinthians, 92 
Pians, 222, 380 —— 22, Romans, 371; 1. Cor- 





12, o. Kings, 296; 1 Cor- inthians, 103, 123 
inthians, 39 —— 23, I. Corinthians, 108 


24 


I. COR. VII. 24, 1. Corinthians, 112; 
Hebrews, 193 

31, Hebrews, 192 

B'OCOR. VIL yx 
125; Ephesians, 153 

—— 1-13, 1. Corinthians, 125 

I. COR. IX. 6, Acts xiii., 93 

— 15, u. Kings, 314 

— 16, John, 55; 1 Corinthians, 
131 

— 17, 1. Corinthians, 131 

— 19-21, 1. Corinthians, 142 

— 22, Acts iii, 12; 12 Cor- 
inthians, 142 

— 23, 1. Corinthians, 142 

—— 24, 1. Corinthians, 146 

—— 25, 1. Corinthians, 148, 153 

26, 1. Corinthians, 152 ; Philip- 

pians, 118 

27, wu. Corinthians, 
Romans, 226 

L COR. X. 13, Deuteronomy, 4 

— 17, Ephesians, 129, 204 

— 23-30, 1. Corinthians, 164 

— 31, t. Corinthians, 164; nm. 
Corinthians, 73, 365 

— 31-32, 1. Corinthians, 164 

I. COR. XI. 24, John, 298 

— 31, Hebrews, 251 

— 42, 1. Corinthians, 168 

I. COR. XII. 4, Psalms, 333 

— 5, John, 121 

— 6, m. Samuel, 343; um. Kings, 
295; Romans, 251 

— 7, I. Corinthians, 178 

— 9, Peter, 276 

— 10, mu. Corinthians, 83 

— ll, Genesis, 220 

—— 12, Ephesians, 221, 222 

— 13, Acts xiii., 59 

— 17, u. Kings, 86 

— 31, ou. Timothy, 189; Peter, 
29 





Corinthians, 





195; 





I. COR. VII.—I. COR. XV. 



















= 


¥ 


I. COR. XIIL, Deuteronomy, 360 

— 4, Ephesians, 167; Philip 
pians, 339 

—— 6, Ephesians, 347 

— 7, Ezekiel, 102; John xv. 
377 7 

—— 8, Esther, 361; 1. Corinthians 
186 

—— 13,1 Corinthians, 186; Phili 
pians, 155 

I. COR. XIV. 26-33, Hebre 
431 

I. COR. XV. 1, Acts, 41 

3, John, 349; John xv., 283 
Romans, 45; 1. Corinthians, 195 
227, 235; Hebrews, 68, 411 

— 3-4, Acts xiii, 29; 1 Cor 
inthians, 195 

—— 6, Matthew xviii., 369; 1. Co 
inthians, 205 

— 8, Acts, 265; Acts xiii., 29, 
248 

— 10, John, 60; 1. Corinthian 
216 

— 14-15, u OCorinthians, 228 
239 

—— 17, Mark ix., 279 

— 20, John xv., 299; Acts, 42 
I. Corinthians, 196, 236, 247 
Philippians, 134, 245; Hebre 
377, 412 

—— 21,1. Corinthians, 247 

—— 32, Peter, 284 

—— 38, John xv., 300 

—— 41, Isaiah, 33 

—— 42, 1. Corinthians, 336 

—— 43, Mark ix., 272 

—— 44, Romans, 185 

—— 49, Philippians, 96, 250 

— 50, Acts, 20; 1. Corinthi 
247, 337 

— 51,1. Corinthians, 247 ; Phi 
pians, 189 





I. COR. XV.—II. COR. VI. 


25 





L COR. XV. 51-52, 0. Timothy, 141 

— 53-54, 1. Corinthians, 247 

—— 55, Esther, 48; 1. Corinthians, 
247 

— 56, 1. Corinthians, 
Philippians, 197 

— 57, Exodus, 80; 1. Corinthians, 
205, 247 

— 58, Ezekiel, 
inthians, 247, 284 

I. COR. XVI. 9, Deuteronomy, 168 ; 
Acts xiii., 277 

—— 13, 1. Corinthians, 252; 1. 
Timothy, 13 

—— 14, 1. Corinthians, 252 

—— 21-24, 1. Corinthians, 258 

I. COR. XVII. 20-24, 1. Corinthians, 
112 

II. COR. I. 8, Philippians, 248 

— 10, Deuteronomy, 343; 
Timothy, 99 

—— 14, no. Corinthians, 290 

—— 18, Deuteronomy, 4 

— 20, Isaiah xlix, 240; 1 
Corinthians, 268; u. Timothy, 
218 

— 21, 1. Corinthians, 277 

— 22, 1. Corinthians, 287 

—— 24, Hpistles of John, 78 

IL COR. Il. 14, Epistles of John, 
296 

— 16, Exodus, 37; uw. Samuel, 
30, 294 

—— 17, Ephesians, 313 

— ]8, 1. Corinthians, 15 

II. COR. III. 3, Isaiah, 294; John 
xv., 268 

— 17, Acts, 51 

—— 18, Exodus, 206; Psalm li., 
180; Isaiah, 31; Luke xiii., 
203; Romans, 240; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 307 ; Ephesians, 180 

—— 23, Romans, 219 


247; 


252; 1. Cor- 


t. 


IT. COR. IV. 3, Matthew ix., 258 

—— 6, Exodus, 137; Psalms, 151; 
Acts xiii., 259; 1. Corinthians, 
315; Ephesians, 192 

—— 16, Deuteronomy, 73; Isaiah, 
286 

— 17, Psalms, 164; 1. 
thians, 333 

18, 1. Corinthians, 323 ; Philip- 
pians, 13 

Il. COR. V. 1, Psalm li., 199; 4 
Corinthians, 277, 333, 344, 346, 
358 

—— 2, 1. Corinthians, 351 

— 4, Romans, 180 

—— 5, 1. Corinthians, 327, 343 

—— 6, 1. Corinthians, 351 

—— 6-8, 1. Corinthians, 342 

— 7, Deuteronomy, 294 

— 8, Luke xiii, 330; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 353; Epistles of John, 
321 

9, Deuteronomy, 67; 1. Cor- 

inthians, 68, 83, 361; Peter, 6 

10, 1. Corinthians, 43 

—— ll, Psalms, 133 

13, 1. Corinthians, 371; Philip- 

pians, 202 

14, Isaiah xlix., 278; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 371 

—— 17, Genesis, 95; Esther, 314; 
Isaiah xlix., 172, 274, 277; Mark 
ix., 198; Acts xiii, 9; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 100; Ephesians, 259; 
Philippians, 330, 343; ou. Tim- 
othy, 361; Epistles of John, 
81 

—— 19, um. Timothy, 31 

—— 20, Exodus, 346; 
XViii., 32 

—— 21, nm. Timothy, 224 

II. COR. VI. 1, 1. Corinthians, 352, 
381 


Corin- 

















Matthew 


26 II. COR. VI.—COVENANT 





II. COR. VI. 2, Esther, 401; Luke | Il. COR. XIII. 5, Philippians, 21 


xiii., 318; Ephesians, 336 —— 37, Mark ix., 168 
— 7, Romans, 320 CORD, a threefold, Romans, 86 
— 10, u. Kings, 308; Isaiah | ——a fourfold, Acts, 79 

xlix., 197; Ephesians, 355; | CORINTH, the Church of, Ro: 

Philippians, 105 404 
— 12, Ephesians, 214 — Paul at, Acts xiii., 148 
—— ]4, Deuteronomy,382; Ezekiel, | CORNELIUS, Acts, 304, 311 

107 CORNER-STONE, the 
—— 15, Ephesians, 206 Ephesians, 118 


—17, Genesis, 323; Deuter- = DAY, a two’ 
onomy, 377 ; Isaiah xlix., 76, 83 ; Isaiah, 135, 139 
Ephesians, 284 CORRUPTION of Christianity, 1 


II. COR. VII. 1, Psalm li., 235; Timothy, 87 
Romans, 13; uo. Corinthians, 1 ; | —— religious, m. Kings, 228 
Ephesians, 291, 349; om. Timothy, | COUNCIL, first Church, Acts 
86; Hebrews, 402 90 

—— 10, u. Corinthians, 8 COUNSEL to a lukewarm Chure 

1. COR. VIII.1-8, 1. Corinthians,20|} Epistles of John, 293 

—— 9, Exodus, 217; Mark ix., | —— parting, Acts xiii., 187, 210 
111; Luke, 221; uo. Corinthians, | —— by aged, to young soldier, r 
20, 27, 180 Timothy, 1 

—— 10, nu. Corinthians, 20 COUNSELLOR, a young 

—— ll, m. Corinthians, 20, 36 best, Esther, 71 

— 12, Exodus, 222; mu. Cor- | COUNTRY YOUTH in city, P 
inthians, 20 li., 284 

II. COR. IX. 8, m. Kings, 198; uo. | COURAGE, Christian, Romans, 3 
Corinthians, 42 —- a disciple’s, Matthew ix., 268 

—— 15, u. Corinthians, 50 —— discouragements and, 

II. COR. X. 5, 6, m. Corinthians, 57 Kings, 354 

II. COR. XI. 2, um. Corinthians, 67 | —— exhortation to, Matthew i 

—— 3, um. Corinthians, 65 33 

—— 5, Philippians, 330 —— foundation of, m. Timothy, 2 


— 7, Mark 5 

—— 9, Acts, 150 

IZ. COR. XII. 4, Philippians, 231 

—— 8, u. Corinthians, 74 

— 9, Exodus, 62; Deuteronomy, 
60; ou. Kings, 135; Ezekiel, 239 ; 
1. Corinthians, 257; Philippians, 
64, 66, 106; nu. Timothy, 16 

— 10, Exodus, 28 

— 14, uo. Corinthians, 23, 83 





Paul’s, Acis xiii., 245, 355 

— the secret of, Deuteronom 
384 

COURSE AND CROWN of 
devout life, the, Genesis, 38 

COURT, a purified, m. Samuel, 13 

COVENANT-ANGEL, the, Genes’ 
224 

COVENANT, four articles of th 
new, Hebrews, 36-72 


COVENANT—CROWN 


27 





COVENANT, God’s, with Israelites, 
Exodus, 118 

—— messenger and seals, Hebrews, 
257 

—— the new, Matthew xviii., 244 

—— of circumcision, Genesis, 107 

—— of peace, Isaiah xlix., 130 

— of the rainbow, Genesis, 61 

— old and new, Exodus, 123 

— revelation as a, Hebrews, 259 

—— symbols in Abraham’s, Genesis, 
101, 107 

— what is a, Genesis, 62 

COVETOUSNESS, Exodus, 91, 114 

COWARDICE condemned, Tim- 
othy, 8 

— of the disciples, Mark ix., 
208 

CREATION, complete and pro- 
gressive, Genesis, 3 

—— in Christ, Ephesians, 108 

— is continual, John xv., 362 

— is God’s love, Psalms, 4 

— man the climax of, Genesis, 4 

— narratives of the, Genesis, 1 

—— a new, Ephesians, 254 

—— preservation is, Isaiah, 365 

— the vision of, Genesis, 1 

CREATURE, God and the, u. Tim- 
othy, 61 

CREDULITY of unbelief, Mark ix., 
151 

CREED and conduct, Psalm li, 
297; Acts, 274; Romans, 118; 
mi. Corinthians, 382 
—— faith and a, Genesis, 318 

CRIME of negligence, the, Esther, 
263 

—— profitlessness of all, Genesis, 
263 

—— which brings judgment, Eze- 
kiel, 65 





CRIMINALS, sinners as, Esther, 99 | 





CRISES, calms and, Isaiah xlix., 
272 

— in life, Isaiah, 274 

—— are lightly passed, Acts xiii., 
167 

— monotony and, Esther, 101 

CRITICS of good men, Ezekiel, 71 

CROSS, bearing Christ’s, Mark ix., 
243 

—— blind watchers at the, Matthew 
Xviii., 325 

—— Christ foreseeing the, Matthew 
Pxeigoo 

—— Christ hastening to the, Luke, 
295 

— the Christian’s, John xv., 81 

—— the glory of the, John ix, 
199 

—— the, makes confessors, John, 
153 

message of Christ’s, Matthew 

Xvili., 345 

sweetens bitterness, Exodus 








65 
—— and rest, Matthew ix., 162 
title on the, John xv., 258 
— the victory of the, Luke xiii., 
254 
—— words from the, Luke xiii., 301 
CROSS OF CHRIST as motive, 
Matthew xviii., 79 
a revelation, John ix., 














202 

—— —— and ours, Mark, 330; 
Luke, 271 

— divides, 1. Corinthians, 
17 


CROSSLEY, F. W., memorial ser- 
mon, Matthew ix., 103 

CROWD, compassion for a, Mat 
thew ix., 51 

CROWN, a, 1. Corinthians, 153, 
Hebrews, 368 





CROWN, the Christian’s, 1 Cor- 
inthians, 154, 157 

man and God’s, Isaiah, 136 

—— of a devout life, Genesis, 38 

of life, um. Timothy, 110 

— of pride or glory, Isaiah, 132 

—— thy, Epistles of John, 267 

the victor’s, Epistles of John, 
201 

CRUCIFIXION, an eye-witness’s 
account of, John xv., 252 

accepted, Matthew xviii., 317 

— Christ’s, Mark ix., 228; Luke 
xiii., 301 
See also Cross 

CRUELTY and badness, Genesis, 
51 














DANGER of drifting, u. Timothy, 
206 

DANIEL as interpreter, Ezekiel, 49 

— and Belshazzar, Ezekiel, 63 

—— and the lions, Ezekiel, 68, 76 

— a youthful confessor, Ezekiel, 
41 

DAN. I., Ezekiel, 40 

—— 8-21, Ezekiel-Malachi, 40 

DAN. II. 36-49, Ezekiel-Malachi, 48 

DAN. III. 13-25, Ezekiel-Malachi, 55 

DAN. IV. 17-31, Ezekiel-Malachi, 62 

DAN. V. 2, mo. Samuel, 104 

—— 23, Mark, 103 

—— 25, Luke, 117 

DAN. VI. 5, Ezekiel-Malachi, 68 

— 15, au. Corinthians, 283; 
Epistles of John, 83 

— 16-28, Ezekiel-Malachi, 75 

DAN. VIL. 9, Ephesians, 147 

DAN. X. 8, Mark, 323 


CRUMBS and bread, Matthew ix 
314 

CRY for bread, the, Matthew, 260 

—— for purity, Psalms, 15 ‘ 


Flood, Genesis, 56 


‘CUP,’ life’s, Psalms, 32 


CURE, a twofold, Isaiah xlix., 340 
CYRUS, 11. Kings, 275; Isaiah, 297 
— Daniel and, Ezekiel, 47 


D 


DAN. XI. 35, Ezekiel, 53 

DAN. XII. 1, Ezekiel, 176; Philip- 
pians, 18 

—— 2, Ezekiel, 31; Romans, 185; 
1. Corinthians, 247 

—— 3, Esther, 108; Philippians, 2 

— 13, Ezekiel, 31, 84; Epistles 

of John, 230 

DANTE, illustration from, Genesis, 
19 

DARIUS, Ezekiel, 257 

Daniel and, Ezekiel, 74, 76 

DARKNESS, an emblem, Luke, 
31 

—— Judas went out into, John ix., 
199 

—— sins of, Ezekiel, 4 

—— unfruitful works of, Ephesians, 








xlix., 174 
i DAUGHTER healed, Mark, 194 


Ba 
& 
YY 


_ DAVID and Absalom, u. Samuel, 


F 89 
_ —— anointed, Deuteronomy, 338 


_ — appointing Solomon, Samuel, 


148; u. Kings, 101 
_ — as king, o. Samuel, 10 
— as saint, m1. Samuel, 64 
_ —choristers of, m. Kings, 79 
_ — cry of, for purity, Psalm li., 1 
_ — cry of, for pardon, Psalm li., 1 
_ — death of, Genesis, 180 





56, 62 
— experiences of, m. Kings, 106 


— and Goliath, Deuteronomy, 


341 
_ + — gratitude of, Samuel, 36 
— grief of, 
Samuel, 106 
— his hymn of victory, Samuel, 
119 
— in danger, Psalms, 207, 213 


_—and Jonathan, Deuteronomy, 


354 


—and Jonathan’s son, Samuel, 


42 
— kindliness of, nm. Samuel, 44 


— last Psalm of, mu. Samuel, 


125 
— libation of, m. Samuel, 141 
—and Nathan, Samuel, 64; 
m. Samuel, 55 
— old age of, u. Samuel, 151 





mitted service of, m. Kings, 96 
— reign of, m. Samuel, 1 
_ —and Saul, Deuteronomy, 364, 
«367 
— secret of courage of, Deuter- 
snomy, 384 


a ila 


DARKNESS—DEATH 


DARKNESS without gospel, Isaiah, 


deliverance of, Psalm li., 39, 


for Absalom, 1m. 


prohibited desire and per- 


[a a a ee ae a ae DR RS eS SE 


29 





DAVID, self-forgetfulness of, wm. 
Samuel, 141 

— the shepherd-king, 
onomy, 337 

swan song of, Genesis, 110 

and the temple, m. Samuel, 31 

warriors of, u. Kings, 87 

DAWN as an emblem, Luke, 36 

from, to noon, Esther, 108 

— of a reign, Samuel, 1 

DAWSON, Sir J. W., Genesis, 148, 
150 

DAY, children of the, Philippians, 
198 

——a, in Christ’s life on earth, 
Mark, 31 

the matter of a day in its, 

Samuel, 181 

of the Lord, the, Esther, 255 ; 
Matthew xviii., 161, 166 

—of Atonement, the, Exodus 
248 

DAYS, all are sacred, Psalms, 

DAYSPRING from on high, Luke, 
30 

DEACONESS, an early Church, 
Romans, 353 

DEAD, the ancient, Christ and, 
Luke, 292; Hebrews, 254 

the, are living, Luke xiii., 324 ; 

Hebrews, 253 

Christ, Lord of the, Epistles 
of John, 168 

—— in trespasses and sins, Ephesi- 
ans, 82 

——life of the holy, Mark ix., 
259 

DEAD SEA, Genesis, 148 

DEAFNESS, spiritual, Isaiah, 217 

DEATH amidst life, John xv., 297 

—— as a shepherd, Psalms, 367 

—— as sleep, 1. Corinthians, 210; 
Philippians, 191, 216 


Deuter- 


























80 


DEATH—DEFEAT 





DEATH of Abraham, Genesis, 180 

— of Christ, ‘ the Prince of Life,’ 
Acts, 108 

— Christ and, Isaiah, 88 

— Christ conquers, Luke, 152; 
Epistles of John, 120 

— Christ’s view of, Luke, 250 

— Christ and His, Luke, 287 

— Christ the Lord of, John ix., 
105 

— of Christ, imitation of, Acts, 
227 

—— Christ’s submission to, Epistles 
of John, 165 

— Christian view of, Romans, 
310; 1 Corinthians, 353 

— exceptions to law of, Genesis, 
44 

— facing, Psalm li., 177 

the friend, 1. Corinthians, 56 

— God glorified in, uo. Corinth- 
ians, 291 

—— and growth, Exodus, 5 

hope in, Esther, 42 

— in the desert, Deuteronomy, 
77 

—— and life, from the Ark, Samuel, 
14 
ians, 220 

— of death, the, 1. Corinthians, 
247 

of master and servant, Acts, 
226 

— of Moses, Deuteronomy, 77 

Paul facing, m. Timothy, 101, 
130 

—— physical, John, 298 

-—— prepared for, Timothy, 23 

-—— sacrifices of, Peter, 100 

—— ‘the second,’ Epistles of John, 
198 

— and sin, Genesis, 45 











compared, of. Corinth- 








DEATH, soft names for, m. 
othy, 103 

—— swift transition in, L 
inthians, 356 

—— two aspects of, Peter, 207 

—— various forms of, nm. Samuel, 
340 

— welcomed, Luke, 60 

—— which gives life, Mark ix., 22: 

—— wishing for, u. Corinthis 
228 

DEATHBED, Elisha’s, u. Samue 
336 

—— —— and Elijah’s translation, 
m. Samuel, 333 

DEBORAH, Esther, 13 

—— her chant, Deuteronomy, 208 
217 


DEBTORS, Christians as missior 
ary, Acts, 162 
—— to all men, Romans, 22 
—— the two, Luke, 188 
DECALOGUE is universally bind 
ing, Exodus, 99 
—— I., man and God in, Exodus, 97 
—— IL, man and man in, Exod: 
107 
DECAY of love, the swift, Exodu 
177 
DECEITFULNESS of sin, m1. 
othy, 285 
DECISION for Christ, Esther, 332 
for God, Exodus, 184 
DECLINE, man’s natural, 
277 
DEDICATION of Solomon’s te 
u. Samuel, 175 q 
DEEDand Word, mighty in, Mark,? 
DEED, word, thought, Exodus, 46 
DEFEAT, Achan’s sin, Israel’s 
Deuteronomy, 145 





DEFEAT—DESPISING 


31 





DEFEAT, faithlessness and, Deuter- | DELIVERER, Christ as, Ezekiel, 


onomy, 275 

DEFECTS, human, ou. Timothy, 
214 

DEFENCE of uncalculating love, 
Matthew xviii., 221 

— divine, Psalm li., 346 

— futile, Ezekiel, 254 

— of God’s city, Isaiah, 106 

— and peril of widened mission, 
Matthew ix., 74 

—— areal, Ezekiel, 274 

DEFOE, descriptions by, Ezekiel, 
171 

—— style of, Genesis, 261 

DEGREES of heavenly honours, 
Matthew xviii., 58 

DEIFIED and stoned, Acts xiii., 65 

DEITY of Christ, Hebrews, 82 

—— of the Father and of Christ, 
John ix., 387 

—— Persons in the, John xv., 69 

—— ‘stern Old Testament,’ Psalm 
li., 95 

DELAY, danger of, Acts xiii., 291 

—— misused, Esther, 369 

—— love’s, John ix., 74 

DELIGHTING in God, Psalms, 
253 

DELITZSCH quoted, Genesis, 235, 
255 

*DELIVER us from evil,’ Matthew, 
282 

DELIVERANCE by prayer, uw. 
Kings, 172 

—— delayed, Acts, 376 

— from fire, Ezekiel, 55 

—— from lions, Ezekiel, 80, 82 

—— Peter’s, from prison, Acts, 
373 

—— salvation as, Romans, 127 

—— asong of, Psalms, 39; Psalm 
xli., 351 


208; John, 358; m1. Corinthians, 
124 

DEMAS, Genesis, 91; um. Timothy, 
114 

DEMETRIUS, Acts xiii., 181 

DEMOCRACY not mobocracy, =. 
Kings, 93 

DEMONIAC boy healed, Matthew 
ix., 352; Mark ix., 13 

DEMONIACAL possession, Mat- 
thew, 419; Matthew ix., 40; 
Luke, 2 

possession of Mary, Mark ix., 
303 

DEMONS, Christ and, Mark, 25 

Lord of, Mark, 177 

DENIER and confessor, John xv., 
322 

DENOMINATIONALISM, Acts,331 

DENYING CHRIST, Peter, 222 

DEPRESSION, religious, Psalms, 
290, 300 

spiritual, Acts xiii., 156 

DEPUTATION, an unwise, Acts 
xiii., 80 

DESCENT of the Word, wo. Cor- 
inthians, 253 

DESERT, death in the, Deuter- 
onomy, 77; Isaiah xlix., 302 

a meeting in the, Acts, 248 

DESIRE and duty, Exodus, 372; 
Esther, 374 

an unfulfilled, Exodus, 371 

DESIRES, satisfaction of 
Psalms, 385 

DESPAIR, needless, Isaiah xlix., 
279 

















all, 





of redemption forbidden, 
Ezekiel, 103 
sin and, Psalm li., 84° 





DESPISING God’s feast, Matthew 
xviii., 130 


82 


DESPONDENCY cured, nm. Samuel, 
261 

— of Moses, Exodus, 329 

DESPOT, an Eastern, Esther iv., 
126 

DESTROYER, the swift, Genesis, 
142 

DESTROYERS and restorer, John, 
133 

DESTRUCTION and help, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 122 

DETACHMENT by faith, Hebrews, 
134 

—— Christian, Hebrews, 315 

DETAINING Christ, Luke xiii, 
342 

DEUT. L., Exodus, 333 

DEUT. II. 24, Deuteronomy, 89 

DEUT. VI. 4, Hebrews, 419 

—— 12, Acts iii., 278 

DEUT. VIL., Deuteronomy, 1 

DEUT. VIII. 2, Genesis, 
Deuteronomy, 4 

— 7, Isaiah xlix., 283 

— 1I, Acts iii., 278 

DEUT. XII. 18, Deuteronomy, 15 

DEUT. XIII. 4, Genesis, 32 

DEUT. XVI. 3, Isaiah xlix., 141 

DEUT. XVII. 14, Deuteronomy, 
297 

—— 18-19, nm. Kings, 18 

DEUT. XVIII. 9-22, Deuteronomy, 
17 

DEUT. XIX. 4-13, Deuteronomy, 
172 

DEUT. XXI. 20, Esther, 245 

DEUT. XXIII. 18, Luke xiii., 94 

—— 47-48, Deuteronomy, 22 

DEUT. XXVIII. 47, uo. Kings, 
126 

—— 47-48, Deuteronomy 252 

DEUT. XXIX. 24-26, m. Samuel, 
194 


179; 


DESPONDENCY—DIALOGUE 


DEUT. XXX. 11-20, Deuteronc 


—— 6, Deuteronomy, 35 

—— 9, Deuteronomy, 29 

— ll, Deuteronomy, 40; 
li., 184 

—— 21, Acta, 239 

—— 31, Deuteronomy, 47 

—— 35, Romans, 301 

DEUT. XXXIII. 3, Deuteronomy, 















—— 16, Deuteronomy, 61 
—— 23, Genesis, 286 
—— 25, Deuteronomy, 67; Isz 
286; 1. Corinthians, 47; Ephes. 
ians, 356 
DEU!. XXXIV. 5-6, Deuteronom 


Devil is an Ass, The, Esther, 97 

DEVOTION, forms as aids to, 
Corinthians, 94 

DEVOUT LIFE, the course 
crown of a, Genesis, 38 

—— Hezekiah a pattern of 
tm. Kings, 47 

DEVOU! SOUL, a, at pra 
Psalm li., 377 

— YOUTH, the trials and visior 
of, Genesis, 234 

DEW as an emblem, Psalm li., 251 
Ezekiel, 131, 220 

—— from the Lord, Ezekiel, 220 

—— the Holy Spirit as, Ezekiel, 13 

—— and the plants, Ezekiel, 134 

DIALOGUE, God and man 

| Psalms, 148 


DIALOGUE—DIVES 


33 





DIALOGUE with God, Ezekiel, 
323, 354 
DIANA. See Artemis 
‘DIET, a restricted, Ezekiel, 45 
DIFFICULTIES, in service, 
Kings, 355 
—— of godliness, Genesis, 43 
DIGNITY and service, Mark ix., 90 
DILEMMA, as to Christ, Luke, 124 
DILIGENCE, Christian, Romans, 
268 
— enjoined, Peter, 199, 224 
— in seeking God, Hebrews, 110 
—— power of, Peter, 198 
— reasons for, John ix., 10 
DIOTREPHES, a. Kings, 89, 92 
DIRECTORY for life, a, Romans, 
222 
— of conduct, Christ’s, John ix., 
132 


O. 


DISAPPOINTMENT, gain by, 
Isaiah, 26 
‘DISCIPLE,’ Acts xiii, 238; 


Philippians, 83 
— an old, Acts xiii., 231 
— an unknown, Mark ix., 173 
DISCIPLES, the first, John, 50- 
85, 109 
— bewildered, John xv., 125 
—— Christ’s early, Matthew, 92 
— Christian, Matthew, 110 
—— cowardly, Mark ix., 208 
—— incredulous, Mark ix., 248 
—— parables to, Matthew ix., 234 
—— prerogatives of, Acts, 32 
—— the seven, John xv., 339 
— sleeping, Matthew xviii., 267 
—— §Spirit-filled, Acts xiii., 56 
— twelve chosen, Mark, 107 
DISCIPLESHIP, aim of, Luke 
xdii., 39 
—— Christ repressing rash, Mat- 
thew, 397 


DISCIPLESHIP, Christ stimulat- 
ing sluggish, Matthew, 405 

conditions of, Luke xiii., 41 

defined, John ix., 137 

— secret, John xv., 287 

DISCIPLINE, duty of, Philip- 
pians, 366; ou. Timothy, 53 

God’s fatherly, Hebrews, 218, 

220 

by grace, 11. Timothy, 141, 168 

—— human life as, Deuteronomy, 
214 

—— need of, 1. Corinthians, 159 

of self, Psalms, 72 

—— opposite effects of, Esther, 156 

—— punishment is, m. Samuel, 89 

—— and corruption, u. Timothy, 
94 

DISCORD, the breaking out of, 
Acts xiii., 79 

DISCOURAGEMENTS and cour- 
age, 1. Kings, 354 

DISCOVERIES and the Scriptures, 
Hebrews, 1 

DISEASE threefold, twofold cure 
and, Isaiah xlix., 340 

DISHONESTY of tenants, Mark 
2x, Loi 

DISINTERESTEDNESS, 
tian, 1. Corinthians, 83 

DISMISSAL of Judas, John ix., 190 

DISOBEDIENCE, obedient, Acts, 
145 

—— punished, Deuteronomy, 326 

DISOBEDIENT, fate of the, ma. 
Corinthians, 63 

DISPERSION, sojourners of the, 
Peter, 1 

| DISPOSITION, natural, and joy, 
mm. Kings, 386 

DIVERSITY Christian, Romans, 
249 

| DIVES and Lazarus, Luke xiii., 101 


f 
4 

















Chris- 





34 DIVINE WORKING—EARNEST 





DIVINE WORKING, twofold | DREAMS and realities, Acts 


aspect of, Esther, 43 72 
DIVINITY of Christ, Acts, 39. | —— Joseph’s, Genesis, 237 
See also Deity DRIFTING, ut. Timothy, 205 


* DOCTRINE,’ the, Romans, 115 331 
— apostolic, Acts, 80 DRINKING, moderate, 1. Cor- 
— divergences in New Testa- inthians, 167 


ment, Philippians, 241 
—— and teaching, Timothy, 28 
— unity of Christian, 1 Cor- 
inthians, 226 
DOCUMENT, the oldest Christian, 
Philippians, 237 
DOGS and children, Mark, 268 
DOING GOOD to all, m. Corinth- 


DROPSY, healed, Luke xiii., 24 

DROUGHT, a terrible, Isaiah xlix., 
281 

DRUNKARD, picture of a, Esther, 
221, 256 

—— judgement upon, Isaiah, 125 

DRUNKENNESS, Esther, 96 

—— Belshazzar’s, Ezekiel, 66 


ians, 180 — heathen, Deuteronomy, 254 
DOMINION, Christ’s, Isaiah xlix., |——— national vice of, Isaiah, 13 
117 DRUSILLA, Acts xiii., 286 
DOOR, Christ at the, Epistles of | DUMBNESS, spiritual, Isaiah, 217 
John, 302 DUNGEON, goodness in a, Genesis, 
the closed, Matthew, 342 248 





—— of the lips, Hebrews, 431 
—— what crouches at the, Genesis, 


DUTY and debt, Matthew, 273 
—— and desire, Exodus, 373, 375 


22 —— difficult, m. Kings, 202 
—— of hope, Ezekiel, 96 —— do the nearest, Genesis, 175 
DOUBT, dangers of, Epistles of | —— of gladness, Philippians, 29 

John, 288 —— is sovereign, Ezekiel, 59 
DOUBIS, John Baptist’s, Matthew | —— of the day, m. Samuel, 186 


ix., 121; Luke, 156 —— of every day, mu. Kings, 114 

DOUBTFUL MATTERS, judge- | —— done for God, Exodus, 129 
ment as to, Hebrews, 195 DUTIES, order of human, Exodus, 

DOVE, emblem of the, Genesis, 109 ' 
59 —— small, and great hope, Philip- 

— of God, Matthew, 66 pians, 183 

DOXOLOGY of Lord’s Prayer,| ‘DWELT’—tabernacled, John, 
Matthew, 289; Philippians, 74 14 


‘DO’ and ‘ Don’t,’ 1. Kings, 369 | DRINK BILL, England’s, Ezekiel, 
! 


E 
EAGLE and its brood, the, Deuter- | ‘ EARNEST,’ the, 1 Corinthians, 
onomy, 40 287; Ephesians, 43 
EAGLES, the carcass and, Ezekiel- |——- the, and the inheritance, 


Malachi, 163 Ephesians, 48; m0. Timothy, 179 


EARNESTNESS—EFFECTS 35 





EARNESTNESS and its 
Romans, 378 

—— Jesus and, Luke xiii., 147 

EARTH, anxiety about the, Luke, 
342 

— fire on, Luke, 381 

——and heaven, blending of, 
Genesis, 84 

— the new, Epistles of John, 350, 
366 

——a parable from God, Psalms, 
227 

— the renewed, John, 20 

—— and sky, bridal of, Psalms, 148 

—— sky, and sea, a parable of, 
Psalms, 227 

—— a stranger in, Psalms, 300 

— to be consumed, Genesis, 150 

EARTHLY HEART, the heavenly 
pathway and the, Genesis, 206 

EASTER, the first, Matthew xviii., 
557 

—— message of, John xv., 310 

— sermon, an, John, 134; John 
xv., 132, 347; 1. Corinthians, 195 ; 
Epistles of John, 120 

— sunrise, the first, Luke xiii.,318 

EASTERN HOME, an, Mark, 148 

EATING the peace-offering, Deuter- 
onomy, 15 

EBEDMELECH, 
Isaiah xlix., 374 


foe, 


the Ethiopian, 


EBENEZER, Deuteronomy, 15, 
277, 282, 284, 290 
ECCLESIASTES, Genesis, 136; 


' Matthew ix., 200 

—— authorship of, 0. Samuel, 203 

meaning of, Esther, 402 

ECCLES. I. 2, Genesis, 182; 
Timothy, 394 

— 4, Exodus, 275; Esther, 297; 
Acts iii., 233 

— 9, Esther, 307 





t. 








ECCLES. I. 13, Esther, 317 

ECCLES. II. 18, n. Kings, 156 

ECCLES. Il. 1, n. Kings, 108 

—— 2, Esther, 323 

— 1], Esther, 251, 334; Psalms, 
274 

—— 15, Exodus, 116 

ECCLES. VY. 1-12, Esther, 350 

—— 10, Epistles of John, 298 

— 15, Esther, 358 

ECCLES. VII. 8, Esther, 363 

ECCLES. VIII. 6, Esther, 344 

—— ll, u. Kings, 73; Esther, 367 ; 
Tsaiah xlix., 360 

ECCLES. IX. 12, Luke xiii., 209 

—— 18, n. Kings, 169 

ECCLES. X. 8, Esther, 372. 

—— 15, Esther, 381; Isaiah, 228. 

ECCLES. XI. 6, Hebrews, 385 

—— 9,1. Kings, 223; Esther, 330, 
364, 391 

—— 13, Esther, 336, 347 

ECCLES. XII. 1, Esther, 391 

—— 1-7, 13, 14, Esther, 402 

—— 13, o. Samuel, 215 

ECHO, man’s, to God’s voice, 
Hebrews, 277 

ECONOMY, Christ enjoins, John, 
262 

EDEN and heaven, Genesis, 13 

—— and Joseph’s garden, John xv., 
297 

lost and restored, Genesis, 10 

EDIFICATION, Philippians, 220 

EDOM, land of, Genesis, 215 

a type, Isaiah xlix., 224 

EDUCATION and man’s need, 
Matthew ix., 186 

and sin, Luke, 267 

EFFECTS of continual prayer, 
Philippians, 229 

—— of rediscovered law, u. Kings, 
60 











EFFORT, the Christian and, Psalm 
li., 114; Hebrews, 185 

—— in Christian life, Peter, 87 

and miracle, Samuel, 352 

EGYPT, Child Jesus in, Matthew, 
29 

—— a coffin in, Genesis, 328 

—— Joseph in, Genesis, 256 

—— temples of, Genesis, 77 

EGYPTIANS at Red Sea, Exodus, 
57 

ELECTIONEERING, au. Samuel, 
86 

ELEVATION, devout, Isaiah, 200 

ELI, Deuteronomy, 269, 281 

ELIJAH, Ahab and, Samuel, 285 

— at Carmel, m. Samuel, 253 

— Christ as, Luke, 1 

—— despair of, Romans, 21 

—— fed, um. Samuel, 233 

— standing before the Lord, 
Samuel, 240 

—— translation of, Samuel, 322; 
m. Samuel, 315, 333 

—— translation of, and Hlisha’s 
deathbed, Samuel, 333 

—— weakness of, cured, Samuel, 261 

— and widow of Sarepta, nm. 
Samuel, 237 

— with Christ, Matthew ix., 346 

ELIM, Exodus, 64 

ELIPHAZ, Esther, 33, 49 

ELISHA, angels defend, nm. Samuel, 

77 

and arrows of victory, U. 
Kings, 24 

—— ‘before the Lord,’ m. Samuel, 
241, 248 

deathbed of, m1. Samuel, 333 

Elijah’s translation and, 
Samuel, 333 

—— and Hazael, o. Kings, 1 

— and Jehu, o. Kings, 1l 














EFFORT—END 












ELISHA and Joash, Genesis, 289 
—— and Naaman, 1. Samuel, 359, 
369 


—— prophecy by, m Samu 
384 


—— raising the child, m. Samuel, 
352 

—— the work of, m. Samuel, 341 

ELOHIM, meaning of, Genesis, 148 

EMANCIPATION by Christ, Isaiah 
231; Isaiah xlix., 194; mm 
othy, 175 

EMMANUEL, Psalms, 347 

EMMAUS, the meal at, Luke xiii., 
348 

EMOTION, Christ’s, at a gra 
John ix., 98 

— conduct and, Peter, 324 

—— in Christians, Epistles of John, 
285 q 

—— regulation of, Peter, 21 

—— in religion, Isaiah, 171 

—— religious, Genesis, 54; 
li, 322. 

—— transient, John ix., 244 

—— value of, Mark ix., 200; 
xiii., 186 

| ENCOURAGEMENTS, Christ’ 

Matthew ix., 1 

—— brave, Ezekiel-Malachi, 257 

END, the, m. Kings, 66 

—— the, crowns the work, 
363 

—— of commandment, Philippians, 
298 P 

—— of the Lord, Esther, 63 

—— of self-will, the, Deuteronomy, 
399 

—— of the war, the, Deuteronomy, 
Ve 

— what will ye do in the, 
xlix., 257 

—— a triumphant, Luke xiii., 372 


a 


uUStner, 


ENDEAVOUR—EPHES. II. 


ENDEAVOUR, Christian, Philip- 
pians, 114 

ENDOR, witch of, Deuteronomy, 
376 

ENDURANCE, the perfecting of, 
Hebrews, 356 

— virtue and reward of, Matthew 
xviii., 148, 154 

ENEMIES, friends miscalled, um. 
Samuel, 291, 313 

— love of, Deuteronomy, 365; 
Acts, 233 

— of love, Romans, 201 

— overrated, Isaiah, 258 

—— prayer for, Luke xiii., 302 

—— of reform, 1. Kings, 355 

treatment of, Romans, 301 

tribute from, Ezekiel-Malachi, 








68 

ENERGY, the object of the divine, 
Peter, 185 

ENGLISH, missionary duties of the, 
Esther, 17 

ENMITY of world for Christians, 
John xv., 50, 58 

ENOCH, life and character of, 
Genesis, 32, 48 

ENTHRONED CHRIST, Mark ix., 
312; Hebrews, 20 

ENTHUSIASM, chilled, Matthew 
Xviii., 53 

— of Christ, Mark, 112 

—— and drill, m. Kings, 87 

— Paul’s, m. Corinthians, 214 

— sustained, Isaiah, 283 

ENTRANCE into God’s rest, um. 
Timothy, 312 

ENTREATIES of God, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 380 

ENVIRONMENT and man, Mat- 
thew ix., 187 

EPAPHRODITUS, Deuteronomy, 
396 





37 


EPAPHRODITUS, Paul and, nm. 
Corinthians, 305 

EPHESUS, difficulties of Christians 
in, Ephesians, 7 

elders of, Acts xiii., 187 

—— fight with beasts at, Acts 
xiii., 180 

Paul in, Acts xiii, 168, 181, 
187 

— riot at, Acts xiii., 181 

EPHES. I. 1, Ephesians, 1 

— 3, Psalm li., 360; Ephesians, 
8; Philippians, 23 

—— 5, Ephesians, 18 

— 7, Ephesians, 18, 26; om. Tim- 
othy, 390; Hebrews, 69 

—— 9, Ephesians, 21, 22, 189 

— 10, Philippians, 349 

— 11,1. Corinthians, 343; Ephesi- 
ans, 35 

— 13, Mark, 8; 1. Corinthians, 
296; Ephesians, 51 

14, Ephesians, 35, 43; Philip- 

pians, 106 

17, Ephesians, 59 

—— 18, Ephesians, 52, 62 

19, Isaiah xlix., 215; Ephes- 

ians, 72 

20, Ephesians, 27, 33, 72, 
212 

—— 21, u. Corinthians, 262, 305 

EPHES. II. 1, Luke, 201, 250 

—— 1-2, Ephesians, 35 

4, Ephesians, 81 ; m. Timothy, 

225 

5, Ephesians, 81 

— 6, Ephesians, 15; Philippians, 
134 

—— 5-6, Hebrews, 205 

—— 7, Ephesians, 91 

—— 8, R.V., Ephesians, 98 

— 10, Ephesians, 108; Hebrews, 
182 


























88 EPHES. II.—EPHES. VI. 


EPHES. II. 12, Ephesians, 118 EPHES. IV. 15, Ephesians, 223 

— 15, Ephesians, 126 

— 19, o. Samuel, 83; Psalms, 
145 





—— 20, R.V., Ephesians, 118 4; Epistles of John, 300 
—— 20, 1. Corinthians, 50 — 30, Mark ix., 18; John xv., 
— 21, Luke xiii., 49 119; Romans, 190; wm. Cor- 
—— 22, Ezekiel, 319; Ephesians,| inthians, 170; Ephesians, 262 
111, 123; Philippians, 225, 228 ; | —— 32, Matthew, 276 
Epistles of John, 102 EPHES. V. 1, m Kings, 39; Mat- 


EPHES. III. 7, 1. Corinthians, 272 thew, 129; Matthew xviii, 46; 
— 8, ou. Samuel, 399; 1. Cor- u. Corinthians, 140; Ephesians, 








inthians, 36 270, 350; Philippians, 172; 
— 10, Ephesians, 23, 95; Philip- Hebrews, 389 
pians, 254, 265; Peter, 49 —— 2, Matthew, 153 
— 11,1. Corinthians, 115 —— 6, u. Timothy, 290 
— 12, Genesis, 140; 1m. Kings, 44 8, Deuteronomy, 220; Mat- 
—— 15, Ephesians, 128 thew, 191; Ephesians, 277, 287, 
— 16, u. Samuel, 303; a. Kings, 304 
27; 1. Corinthians, 256; Ephes- | —— 9, R.V., Ephesians, 286 
ians, 132, 145, 181 — 9, Ephesians, 278 
— 17, Ephesians, 142; Philip- | —— 10, Ephesians, 281, 295 
pians, 300 — 11, Ezckiel, 106; Ephesians, 
—— 17-19, Ephesians, 132 284, 303, 313 
—— 18, Ephesians, 151-162 —— 12-14, Ephesians, 313 
—— 19, Ephesians, 142, 151, 171, | —— 14, Ephesians, 318; Philip- 
187; Peter, 187 pians, 168 
—— 20, n. Samuel, 349 ; Ephesians, 15-16, Ephesians, 313, 327 
27, 30, 73, 180 —— 17-21, Ephesians, 313 
—— 20-21, Ephesians, 180 EPHES. VI. 5, Deuteronomy, 160 
— 21, 1. Corinthians, 158 — 10, Deuteronomy, 94; 
EPHES. IV. 1, Ephesians, 194; Samuel, 283; 1. Kings, 106; 
Philippians, 171, 177, 178, 260 Psalms, 48; Philippians, 63, 123, 
—— 3, i Corinthians, 186 368 
—— 5, Ephesians, 203 —— ll, Genesis, 287 
—— 6, Hebrews, 150 —— 11-18, Philippians, 198 
—— 7, R.V., Ephesians, 207 —— 13, Genesis, 294; Isaiah xlix., 
—— 7, Ephesians, 27, 33 70; Ephesians, 337; Epistles of 
— 8, 1. Samuel, 330 John, 111 
—— 13, R.V., Ephesians, 216 —— lJ, R.V., Ephesians, 343 
— 13, Luke, 57; John xv., 4; |—— 14, Ephesians, 350 
m Corinthians, 3; Ephesians, 33, | —— 15, Deuteronomy, 73; Mark, 


173 8; Ephesians, 353 


y 


h 


ae 


_ — of Paul’s imprisonment, Acts 


-— 24, Ephesians, 391 


EPHES. VI.—EXCUSE 


EPHES. VI. 16, Ephesians, 361 
— 17, Ephesians, 367, 373 
—— 23, Ephesians, 381, 391 


EPISTLES and gospels, relation of, 
Philippians, 198 


xiii., 382 

EPITAPH of a kingdom, mn. Kings, 
33 

—— on sinners, Genesis, 55 

EPOCHS, old truths for new, 
Deuteronomy, 319 

— in life, Esther, 227 

EQUALITY of all, Exodus, 170 

— of sinners, m. Samuel, 361 

— as to terms of salvation, Acts 
xiii., 343 

EQUIPMENT 
Luke, 358 

ERASTUS, Romans, 400 

ERRAND, Christ’s life as an, John 
xv., 159 

ESAU. error of, Genesis, 
198 

—— Jacob’s fear of, Genesis, 223 

vain tears of, Hebrews, 227 

ESCAPE, Peter’s, Acts, 394 

ESPOUSALS, the love of thine, 
Exodus, 118 

ESTHER and Mordecai, Esther, 
14 

—— venture of, Esther, 6 

ESTHER IIL. 1-11, Esther, 1 

—— 8, Genesis, 98; Peter, 5 

ESTHER IV. 10-17, Esther, 6 

ESTHER V. 1-3, Esther, 6 

ESTHER VI. 14, Esther, 14 

ESTHER VIII. 3-8, Esther, 23 

— 15-17, Esther, 23 

ESTIMATE, Paul’s, of himself, 
1. Corinthians, 216 | 


of the servants, 


192, 





_ * ETERNAL LIFE,’ John, 170 


39 





ETERNITY, God’s work and praise 
and, Ephesians, 192 

—— in the heart, Esther, 334 

—— occupation in, Peter, 288 

—— the Word in, John, 1 

ETHAN, 1. Kings, 80 

EUNUCH, Philip and the, Acts, 249 

EUODIA, Acts xiii., 106 

EUPHRATES, Genesis, 70, 77, 193; 
Tsaiah, 45 

EUROPE, recast by Christianity, 
Ezekiel, 53 

EVANGELICAL FAITH, the, u. 
Kings, 364 

EVANGELIST, message of the, 
Isaiah, 257 

— Philip the, Acts, 255; Acts 
xili., 222 

EVE, temptations to, Genesis, 7 

EVENING and a bright morning, 
Genesis, 305 

EVENTIDE, light at, mo. Timothy, 
95 

EVERYDAY DUTY, u. Kings, 
114 

EVIL cast out of man, Psalm li., 
366 

— Christ arrests, Isaiah, 286 

— overcome with good, Romans, 
303 

—— progress in, Genesis, 92; Mark 
ix., 184 

— what is, Matthew, 283 

EVOLUTION, religion and, Exodus, 
179 

EXALTATION, Christ’s, m. Cor- 
inthians, 260 

EXAMPLE, Christ as, Peter, 107 

— of faith, an, Genesis, 66 

EXCUSE, Aaron’s, Exodus, 183 

—a common mistake and, 
Ezekiel-Malachi, 10 

—— for delay, Matthew, 46, 


EXCUSES—EXPECT 





EXCUSES not reasons, Luke xiii., 
28 


— vain, Psalms, 153 

EXEMPLAR, Christ the supreme, 
Peter, 107 

EXERCISE, Christian, Philippians, 
366 

EXHORTATION 
Acts, 323 

— a tender, Philippians, 1 

EXILE, the king in, Matthew, 28 

EXILES, gladness of restored, m1. 
Kings, 303 

— message to the, Isaiah xlix., 
134 

EXODUS, God's plan in, Exodus, 8 

— the new, Isaiah xlix., 76 

EXODUS I. 1-14, Exodus, 1 

— 6, 7, Exodus, 5 

EXODUS IL. 1-10, Exodus, 12 

—— 14, Ephesians, 310 

EXODUS II. 2, Exodus, 19; 
Deuteronomy, 61, 65 

— 5, Deuteronomy, 125 

— 10-20, Exodus, 26 

EXODUS V. 5, Exodus, 119 

EXODUS XI. 1-10, Exodus, 33 

EXODUS XII. 1-14, Exodus, 38 

EXODUS XIII. 9, Exodus, 46 

EXODUS XIV. 15, John, 265 

— 19-31, Exodus, 52 

EXODUS XV. 2, Exodus, 
Epistles of John, 96 

— 8, Deuteronomy, 113 

— 10, Exodus, 59; Psalms, 358 

— 13, Exodus, 61 

— 17, Exodus, 63 

— 23-25, Exodus, 64 

EXODUS XVI. 2-12, Exodus, 65 

EXODUS XVII, 1-7, Exodus, 357 

—— 15, Exodus, 72 

EXODUS XVIII. 3, 4, Exodus, 80 

— 10, Exodus, 86 


of Barnabas, 


61; 


EXODUS XVIII. 21, Exodus, 88 — 

EXODUS XIX. 4, Deuteronomy, 

—— 5, Ephesians, 37 

—— 6, Exodus, 121; Epistles 
John, 135 

EXODUS XX. 1-11, Exodus, 97 

— 4, Peter, 105 

—— 12-21, Exodus, 107 

EXODUS XXI. 24, Matthew, 210 

EXODUS XXIII. 16, Exodus, 11 

EXODUS XXIV. 1-12, Exodus, 118 

—— ll, u. Kings, 378 

EXODUS XXYV. 30, Exodus, 126 

—— 31, Exodus, 134 

EXODUS XXVIII. 12, 29, Exodus, 
144 

—— 36, Exodus, 151 

EXODUS XXIX. 42, Exodus, 224 

EXODUS XXX. 1, Exodus, 159 

—— 12, Exodus, 168 

—— 15, Exodus, 170 

EXODUS XXXII. 2, Isaiah, 297 

EXODUS XXXII. 1-8, Exodus, 171 

—— 14, Ezekiel, 194 

—— 26, Deuteronomy, 208 

—— 15-26, Exodus, 177 


-| —— 30-35, Exodus, 171 


—— 32, Philippians, 12 

—— 33, Philippians, 20 

EXODUS XXXII. 11, Ezekiel, 145 

—— 12-23, Exodus, 186 

—— 18, nm. Timothy, 161 

EXODUS XXXIV. 6, Exodus, 195 ; 
m. Samuel, 265 

—— 7, Exodus, 199 

— 20, John xv., 19 

—— 29, Exodus, 204 

EXODUS XXXV. 21, Exodus, 213 

EXODUS XL. 1-16, Exodus, 233 

EXORCISTS, would-be, Acts xiii., 
175 

‘EXPECT great things,’ m1. Kings, 
32 


EXPECTATION—EZRA 


Ht 
t 
EXPECTATION and _ blessing, 
"Isaiah xlix., 293 
EXPERIENCE, argument from, 
+ _ John, 67 

—— and creed, John xv., 171 

—— of Christ’s love, John, 61 


— defective Christian, Ezekiel, 
146 

—— gives knowledge of God, 
Psalm li., 206 

—the gospel and Christian, 
Romans, 41 


— and hope, Ephesians, 53; 1. 
Timothy, 370. 
— lessons of, m. Corinthians, 109 
— of salvation, Philippians, 323 
— Paul’s use of, 0. Timothy, 126 
——,, resolve, work, Psalm li., 265 
—and Scripture statements, 
Romans, 189 
—— testimony 
Psalms, 9 
— theology of, n. Corinthians, 213 
— value of personal, Acts, 393 
_EXPIATION, Deuteronomy, 15 
-—the Passover and, Exodus, 
38 
— in Old Testament, Exodus, 121 
— the scapegoat and, Exodus, 
255 
EYE, the evil and charm of the, . 
Corinthians, 100 
— hindered by the, 
xviii., 10 
EYES and no eyes, Mark, 308 
—— opened, 1. Samuel, 338 
EYE-WITNESS, account by, of 
Crucifixion, John xv., 252 
EZEKIEL, his visions, Ezekiel, 11, 
27 
EZEKIEL I. 4, Matthew, 288 
EZEKIEL IIL., Isaiah xlix., 27 
— 5, 6, Ezekiel, 193 


of  Psalmist’s, 


Matthew 





41 





EZEKIEL VIII. 
Malachi, 1 

EZEKIEL XII. 13, o. Kings, 69; 
Isaiah, 49, 372, 402 

—— 27, Ezekiel-Malachi, 10 

EZEKIEL XVII. 13, Isaiah xlix., 
399 

EZEKIEL XVIII. 4, Deuteronomy, 
30; ou. Samuel, 311; Ezekiel, 339 

—— 31, o. Samuel, 312; Ezekiel, 
101 

EZEKIEL XXII. 14, Exodus, 35 

EZEKIEL XXIV. 1, m. Kings, 68 

—— 6, Ezekiel, 192 

EZEKIEL XXXVI. 22, Epistles of 
John, 50 

—— 25, Psalm li., 30 

—— 25-38, Ezekiel-Malachi, 19 

EZEKIEL XXXVII. 1, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 26 

3, Esther, 48 

—— 4-14, Ezekiel-Malachi, 26 

—— 9, Acts, 49 

EZEKIEL XLVIL 1, 
Malachi, 32 

EZRA, u. Kings, 372 

faith and work of, u. Kings, 

309 

tests by, u. Kings, 317 

EZRA I. 1, Ezekiel, 40 

—— 1-11, u. Kings, 275 

EZRA II. 2, no. Kings, 284 

EZRA III. 1-13, 0. Kings, 282 

EZRA IV. 1-5, 1. Kings, 291 

—— 12-16, nm. Kings, 328 

EZRA VI. 3, Ezekiel, 40 

— 6-10, Ezekiel, 262 

— 14-22, no. Kings, 294 

—— 22, nm. Kings, 301 

EZRA VII. 15, Ezekiel, 262 

EZRA VIII. 22, 23, 1. Kings, 309 

—— 29, no. Kings, 317 

—— 31, 32, o. Kings, 309 


12, Ezekiel- 





Ezekiel- 











FABER, F. W., quoted, Genesis, 
133 
FACE, the, changed by thought, 
Luke, 283 
— light of God’s, Psalm li., 171 
— of God, Psalms, 186 
—— of the Lord, Isaiah xlix., 88 
—— seeing God’s, Ephesians, 375 
FACTIONS in the Church, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 30, 65, 75 
FACTS, the convicting, John xv., 
99 
FAILURE, God’s requirements, 
and man’s, Ezekiel, 233 
— in life, Luke xiii., 45 
FAITH,’ wu. Corinthians, 
Ephesians, 98, 381 
— Abram and the life of, Genesis, 
67, 73 
. — Abram, the man of, Genesis, 
87 
- — access by, Hebrews, 247 


95; 


—-—all-conquering, Isaiah xlix., 
40 

—— appropriating, Exodus, 61; 
1m. Kings, 179 


—- aspects of, John, 330 

—- as looking, John, 168 

—- assurance of, Psalm li., 341 

attaches and detaches, 
Hebrews, 129 

—— brings joy, Acts, 221; Peter, 
36 

—— a call to, Isaiah xlix., 39 

— Christ as the object of, Acts 
xiii., 308 

— Christ’s 
Ephesians, 147 

—and Christian science, 
Kings, 135 





x 


FAITH, the common means 
salvation, Epistles of John, 94 

—— and conduct, m. Kings, 13 

—— conquering the world, Epi 
of John, 1, 

—— and a creed, Genesis, 313 

—— the crowning test of, Gen 
161 

—— defined, Genesis, 53, 104 

—— and deliverance, Ezekiel, 82 

—— the ‘ deposit ’ of the, Timot 
17 

—— desperate, Matthew ix., 311 

— early theology and, Genesi 
42 

—— education of, Mark ix., 44 

—and the emotions, Gen 
54 

—— encouraged, Luke, 246 

— some effects of, Genesis, 
117 

—— evangelical, m. Kings, 364 

—— an example of, Genesis, 66 

——and fear, um. Kings, 132 
Psalm li., 30; Luke, 110 

— and fruit, John, 286 

and fulness of the Spirit, 
Acts, 207 

—— guarded through, Peter, 14 

— how kindled, John, 98 

—— illustrated, ou. Kings, 178 
John, 232 

—— illustrated in Noah, 
113 

—— impure, Matthew ix., 308 

— in Christ, Acts xiii., 308 





Hebre 


incoming through, | —— in the unseen, Genesis, 41 


—— infancy of, Mark ix., 38 


uo. | —— in trust, Psalms, 221 ; 


112 


FAITH 43 





FAITH in Christ and in God, John | FAITH, and presumption, Ezek. 








ix., 255 iel, 28 
— in Christ brings joy, Romans, promises to, Genesis, 68 
341, 345 and prudence, m0. Kings, 199 
— ethical results of, Genesis, |] —— and ‘a quiet heart,’ Timothy, 
324 16 


—— ‘in His name,’ Hebrews, 406 
— in Old Testament, Esther, 217 





range of feeble, Mark, 199 
Rahab’s, Deuteronomy, 141 








—— and trust, Philippians, 155 —and repentance, u. Corinth- 
—— Joseph’s, Genesis, 311 ians, 8 
—— and joy, u. Kings, 380; John | —— the rest of, m1. Timothy, 303 
ix., 382 —— rewards of, Genesis, 75; Exo- 
—— kept by, Esther, 122 dus, 319 
-— lesson in, 0. Samuel, 238 —— and righteousness, Genesis, 116 
—— ‘like precious,’ Peter, 170 — the secret of goodness, Acts, 
—— the man of, Genesis, 82 352 
— is more than creed, Genesis, | —— secures rest, u. Timothy, 319, 
318 328 
—— Naaman’s imperfect, Samuel, | —— and self-denial, Matthew ix., 
368 261 
— nature of, Genesis, 116 — jis a shield, Genesis, 112; 
—— necessity of, Mark, 243 Hphesians, 361 
— no sonship without, Romans, a short confession of, Acts 
158 xili., 355 
—— Noah’s, and ours, Hebrews, | —— slow, Mark, 327 
112 - —— tested and crowned, Genesis, 
— object of Christian, Genesis, 152; Ezekiel, 75 
116; Peter, 171 —— touch of, Matthew ix., 29 
— objective and _ subjective, |—— triumph of, Isaiah, 235 


Ephesians, 204 and trust, Psalms li., 147 
— obedience of, Genesis, 68 unreal, Acts, 244 
— is reliance, 0. Kings, 130 —— the venture of, Exodus, 316 
— or touch, Mark, 213 the victory of unarmed, Deu- 
— or trust, u. Kings, 47; Psalm teronomy, 340 

















li., 35 where and with whom it 
— omnipotence of, Mark ix., 22 lives, Hebrews, 238 
— the penitent robbers’, Luke |—— which Christ praises, the, 
xiii., 313 Matthew, 377 
—— the Perfecter of, Hebrews, 199 is a work of God, John, 281 
—— permanence of, 1. Corinthians, | —— and_ works, wu. Corinthians, 
186 268; Philippians, 387; uo. Tim- 
—— and power, Matthew ix., 352 othy, 308 


—— prerogative of, Genesis, 74 —— without works, Hebrews, 415 


FAITHFUL, fortress of the, Isaiah, 
199 

—— saints are the, Ephesians, 1 

—— workers, glad givers and, 1. 
Kings, 191 

—— meaning of, Deuteronomy, 1 

‘FAITHFUL SAYINGS,’ Philip- 
pians, 316 

FAITHFULNESS, the chief virtue, 
Luke xiii., 170, 181 

—— in difficulties, Romans, 372 

—— divine, um. Timothy, 58, 71 

— God’s, Deuteronomy, 41 

— human, with faithful God, 
u. Timothy, 66, 74 

—— required, u. Kings, 325 

—— strange reward for, u. Kings, 
243 

—— reward of, Esther, 180 

value of, Peter, 142, 168 

FAITHLESSNESS and. defeat, 
Deuteronomy, 275 

——and God’s patience, Deuter- 
onomy, 192 

FALL of man, the, Genesis, 6, 10, 
Il, 135 

consequences of, Genesis, 9 

——» great: and great recovery, 
Luke xiii., 240 

— of Jerusalem, Isaiah xlix., 367, 
398 

—— of Judah, un. Kings, 269 

— of Solomon, the, Samuel, 201 

FALLING from grace, Matthew, 
181; Epistles of John, 271 

— kept from, Epistles of John, 
108 

FALSE WITNESS, Exodus, 113 

FALSEHOODS of sin, no. Timothy, 
285 

FAMILY, Christ as Head of the, 
Luke xiii., 353 ; o. Timothy, 246 

the Church as a, Genesis, 84 











FAMILY, defective life of, 
234 

















— love of, m. Kings, 358 
— of God, the, John ix., 118 


FARMER, the divine, 
152 

FASTING, Matthew, 298; 
75 

FATHER, control by, 


Genesis, 154 

— Christ and the will of 
Isaiah xlix., 24 

— Christ and the, Matthew 
338 

— Christ’s dealing with a 
Mark ix., 22 . 


—— Christ’s relation to the, Joh 
ix., 386 
—— forgiveness of a, Psalm 
220 
— God’s care as, Matthew, 
336 
—— God prepares as a, Phili 
110 
—— the Infinite, Isaiah xlix., 
—— and Judge, Peter, 69 
the prodigal and his, 





FATHER’S HOUSE, heaven 
the, John ix., 264 

FATHERHOOD and bro 
Romans, 405 

—— the divine, Romans, 155 

FATHERLAND, _ seeking 
Hebrews, 138 


FAULTS—FIRE 


45 





FAULTS, secret, Psalms, 68 

— of a good man, Acts xiii., 91 

— of John Mark, Acts xiii., 92 

—— overcoming, Peter, 165 

—— peril of secret. Psalms, 71 

FAVOURITISM, no divine, Mat- 
thew xviii., 71 

FEAR, appeal to, Acts xiii., 289 

— brings a snare, John xv., 
291 

— faith stirred by, Deuteronomy, 
142 

—and faith, Psalm li, 
Luke, 110 

—— irrational, Genesis, 146 

— and love, m. Kings, 370; Peter, 
347, 360 

—— the mission of, Peter, 351 

—— as a motive, nm. Kings, 367 ; 

—— paralyses effort, Exodus, 341; 
Matthew xviii., 211 

— reasons for, Genesis, 111 

— religion of, m. Kings, 43 


30; 


—— the word that scatters, Genesis, 


111 

“FEAR NOT,’ Genesis, 111 

FEARLESSNESS, Christian, Tim- 
othy, 8 

FEAST, Christ brings a, Epistles of 
John, 308 

— for the prodigal, Luke xiii., 73 


-— image of a, Isaiah, 90 


— invitation to a divine, Isaiah 
xlix., 135 
— Jesus at a, Luke xiii., 23, 28 


-— of harvest, Exodus, 261 





— of ingathering, Exodus, 115 


_— of Tabernacles, Exodus, 115 


— on the sacrifice, Isaiah, 90 

—symbol of the, Philippians, 
149 

—— two ways of despising God’s, 
Matthew, xviii., 126 


FEASTING, Christ and, Luke, 182 

—- on the sacrifice, Psalms, 86 

* FEED upon Him by faith,’ Psalms, 
90 

FEEDING in the ways, Isaiah 
xlix., 1 

—— the lambs and sheep, John xv., 
380 

— of the five thousand, John, 251 

on ashes, Isaiah, 307 

FEET-WASHING, the, John ix, 
181 

FELIX, Esther, 235 

—— Paul before, Acts xiii., 281], 
287 

FELLOW-WORKERS, God’s, L 
Corinthians, 30 

with the truth, Epistles of 
John, 70 

FELLOWSHIP, 
Acts, 83 

and likeness with God, Peter, 
249 

—— with God and Christ, Peter, 
257 

FENCES and serpents, Esther, 372 

‘FERVENT, Romans, 270 

FERVOUR, unwise, Matthew, 401 

FESTUS, Acts xiii., 323, 327, 347 

FEW, fit though, Deuteronomy, 236 

FIELD which the Lord blessed, a, 
m1. Timothy, 349 

FIG-TREE, the barren, Mark ix., 
126 

FIGHT of faith, Hebrews, 210 

—— with beasts at Ephesus, Acts 
xiii., 180 

FILIAL LOVE, John xv., 157 

FIRE as a symbol, Exodus, 21; 
Luke, 384; Acts, 52 

as a test, 1. Corinthians, 42 

baptism in, Matthew, 48 

—— the chariot of, Samuel, 315 








early Church, 











46 


FIRE, an emblem of God’s work- 
ing, Isaiah, 172, 189 

God answering by, m. Samuel, 

259 

God as a, Psalms, 107 

— of God, how to dwell in the, 
Isaiah, 189 

—— on earth, Luke, 381 

— or light? Isaiah, 55 

—— strange, Exodus, 240 

—— the testing, 1. Corinthians, 39 

—— the trial by, Samuel, 253 

—— dying, Isaiah xlix., 47 

—— harmless, Ezekiel, 55 

FIRST EASTER, the, Luke xiii., 
318 

FIRST-FRUITS of Gentiles, Mat- 
thew, 19 

—— of his creatures, Hebrews, 376 

FIRST PREACHING of the Resur- 
rection, Mark ix., 74 

FIRST STAGE in cleansing, the, 
Exodus, 247 

FISH, coin in mouth of, Matthew 
ix., 374 

FISHERMEN, _ instruction 
Luke, 102 

FLAX, smoking, Isaiah, 286 

FLEECE, Gideon’s, Deuteronomy, 
233 

FLEEING and clinging, o. Tim- 
othy, 384 

FLESH, conquering the, m. Cor- 
inthians, 157 

—— the Word in the, John, 1 

FLOCK, Christ’s, Isaiah xlix., 1 

— and fold, John ix., 66 

—— the folded, John xv., 206 

—— gifts to the, John ix., 24 

— and two shepherds, Psalms, 
365 

FLOOD, the, Genesis, 135 

—— escaping the, u. Timothy, 393 | 








for, 


FIRE—FORESIGHT 


FLOOD, teaching of the, Genesia 
52, 54 

extent of the, Genesis, 56 

FLOWERS, Christ and, Luke, 34 

—— of Christian grace, Roman 
283 

FOES and friends of Christ, Mark 
122 

—— of the Christian, Exodus, 298 

FOLD and flock, John ix., 66 





—one, and one shepher¢ 
Samuel, 8 

—— the shepherd and the, Exodv 
61 


FOLLOWING CHRIST, John 
388 

FOLLY, wisdom and, Esther, 205 

FOLLIES of the wise, Luke xiii, 
175 

FOOD, Christ as, Ephesians, 189 
207 

—— of the world, Christ as th 
Isaiah, 81; Matthew ix., 282 

‘FOOL,’ in Proverbs, Esther, 79 

—— the rich, Luke, 337 

FOOT, hindered by the, Matthe 
xviii., 16 

FOR MY SAKE, Matthew ix., 
79, 102 

‘FOR THY NAME’S SAKE 
Psalms, 135 

FORBEARANCE, divine, Ezekie 
102 

FOREIGNERS bring complic 
tions, mu. Kings, 395 

— Christians as, m. Corinthian 
235 

FORERUNNER, the, John i 
272 

—— Christ as, Ezekiel, 214 

—— the strong, Mark, 13 

FORESIGHT and _forebodin 
Matthew, 311 


FORGETFULNESS—FRIEND 


47 





-FORGETFULNESS, sinful, Isaiah, 

ia a7 

_— wise, m1. Corinthians, 365 

-* FORGIVE us our debts,’ Matthew, 

() 272 

FORGIVEN and unforgiving, Mat- 

thew xviii., 37 

FORGIVENESS, the chief blessing, 

_ Hebrews, 62 

-—and consequences of 

Psalms, 174 

-— divine, Exodus, 203 

— follows confession, Isaiah, 41 

_— guaranteed, nm. Timothy, 63 

-—— and law, Epistles of John, 385 

-—— and love, Luke, 198 

-——manner of divine, Exodus, 

351 

— need of, Matthew ix., 9 

_— primary necessity of, Ezekiel, 

i. pal 

| — results of, Genesis, 264 

—and retribution, Psalm li, 

e217 

| — sin and, Exodus, 199; Psalms, 

195 

FORGIVING, the duty of, Matthew, 

: 276, 277 

FORM of teaching, Romans, 114 

— and power, 0. Timothy, 86 

_— religion of, m. Kings, 45 

_— versus character, 1. Corinthians, 

| 92 

FORMS in worship, 1. Corinthians, 
95 

— and life, m. Corinthians, 149 

FORMALISM and Christ, Matthew 
ix., 172 

— and corruption, u. Timothy, 
91 

FORTRESS of the faithful, Isiaah, 
199 

FORTRESSES, two, Esther, 210 


sin, 











FORTY DAYS, the, Acts, 18 

FORTY YEARS, a ministry of, 
1. Corinthians, 19 

FOUND WANTING, weighed and, 
Exodus, 340 

FOUNDATION, Christ as, John, 
336; Philippians, 222 

— of Christian building, Ephes- 
ians, 123 

and seal, the, 1. Timothy, 68 

FOUNDATION-STONE, the living, 
I. Peter, 86 

FOUNDATIONS, the two, Mat- 
thew, 354 

FOUNDER and finisher, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 301 

FOUNDERS of Law and Gospel, 
John, 39 

FOUNTAIN and cisterns, Isaiah 
xlix., 249 

—— God the, Psalms, 295 

the springing, John, 214 

FOX, George, Genesis, 250 

‘FRAGMENTS,’ or 
Pieces,’ John, 261 

FRANKNESS, Christ’s, John ix., 
269 

FREE CHURCHES, 
gelical, Exodus, 94 

rivalry of, Acts, 331 

—the, and Christian unity, 
Romans, 289 

FREEDOM, Christ’s unique, Mat- 
thew ix., 380 

constitutional, m. Samuel, 140 

—— the Holy Spirit and, Acts, 50 

—of Christ’s slaves, 1 Cor- 
inthians, 109 

of Christian life, John, 155 

FRENCH REVOLUTION, the, 
Exodus, 104; Isaiah, 134 

FRIEND, death as a, t Corinthians, 
56 








‘ Broken 


the evan- 














FRIEND, God’s, Hebrews, 421 

—— the intercourse of God and His, 
Genesis, 134 

—— of publicans and sinners, Mat- 
thew ix., 131; Mark, 70 





or enemy, 1. Samuel, 294 
FRIENDS, Christ’s, John xv., 38 
—— Christian duty to, Mark, 191 
—— Job’s, Esther, 32, 53 
— of God, Hebrews, 422 
—— a pair of, Ezekiel, 143 
FRIENDSHIP, duties and rights 
of, Hebrews, 422 | 
—of David and Jonathan, 
Deuteronomy, 354 
the pattern of, Deuteronomy, 
354 
— with God, Genesis, 107, 108, 
134 
FRUIT of the God-bedewed soul, 
Ezekiel, 141 
of the light, Ephesians, 286 
—— of Spirit, Mark ix., 130; m. Cor- 
inthians, 162 
—— which is death, Ezekiel, 114 
— of Christian life, John, 159 
—— of repentance, Ezekiel, 133 








FRUITFULNESS, condition 
m. Timothy, 354 

—— in Christ, Isaiah, 223 

—— of devout life, Isaiah xlix., 3) 

FULL of the Hoiy Ghost, Ac 
xiii., 56 

FULLER, Thomas, quoted, Genes 
242 

FULNESS of Christ, John, 23 

—— of God, Ephesians, 172 

FURNACE, the Lord’s, Isaiak 
168 

FUTURE, certitude as to final, 
Corinthians, 334 ~ 

—— the past and, Esther, 307 

— state, the, Genesis, 44 

— our unknown, Acts, 25 

—— vindicates God, Hebrews, 14’ 

—— why hidden, John xv., 84 

FUTURE LIFE, completeness 
the, Matthew xviii., 18 

memory in the, 
xiii., 107 

—— —— the Christian’s, John ix. 
137; Peter, 301 








G 


GADARA, the demoniac of, Mark, 
177 

GAIN of Christ, m. Corinthians, 328 

— of the faithful, Luke xiii., 92 

—— of Godliness, Samuel, 161 

GAINS, Deuteronomy, 396 ; 
mans, 400 

GALATIANS, bewitched, m. Cor- | 
inthians, 101 

GAL. IT. 9, Peter, 147 

—— 20, Exodus,61; Deuteronomy, 
39,387; m1. Samuel, 63; Matthew 


Ro- 


—— —— present effect of 
of, Ezekiel, 14 
xviii, 250; John xv., 197 


Romans, 166; 1. Corinthians, 7. 
377, 378; u. Corinthians, 29, § 
206, 219, 278, 308; Ephesian 
165, 290; Philippians, 25, 33 
uu. Timothy, 197, 200; Hebre 
52, 104, 318; Epistles of Jok 
131, 133, 402 

GAL. III. 1, m. Corinthians, 100 

—— 4, u. Corinthians, ‘109 

ar 21, I. Corinthians, 
Hebrews, 391 


GAL. ITI.—GENESIS VI. 


49 





GAL. II. 22, Romans, 55; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 116 

—— 28, Romans, 375 

GAL. IV. 4, 0. Corinthians, 126 

—— 5, John, 360; uw. Corinthians, 
126; Philippians, 76 

— 6, Romans, 160 

— 16, ou. Samuel, 313 

GAL. V. 1, Romans, 75; u. Cor- 
inthians, 193 

— 5, Philippians, 94 

— 6, 1. Corinthians, 92; um. Cor- 
inthians, 153 ; Hebrews, 117, 419; 
Epistles of John, 101 

—— 7, Ephesians, 253; Hebrews, 
184 

— 17, Romans, 147, 183 

—— 22, Mark ix., 129; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 183; wu. Corinthians, 
159, 162 

—— 23, un. Corinthians, 162 

—— 24, Genesis, 96 

GAL. VI. 1, John xv., 302; uo. Cor- 
inthians, 171 

—— 3-5, u. Corinthians, 171 

—— 5, Psalm li., 4 

—— 7, Genesis, 248 ; Exodus, 117; 
m. Samuel, 70, 72; Esther, 
237, 249; uw. Corinthians, 177; 
Ephesians, 115; Philippians, 
387; Hebrews, 69; Epistles of 
John, 385 

— 7-8, u. Timothy, 32 

— 8, Deuteronomy, 82; Ezekiel, 
339; Luke, 184; Romans, 226; 
Ephesians, 236 

— 10, u. Corinthians, 180, 327 

— 14, Romans, 165 

—17, Exodus, 51; 
inthians, 189 

GALILEE, the risen Christ by Sea 
of, John xv., 359 


m. Cor- 





GAMALITEL, advice of, Acts, 196 

GARDEN, the grave in a, John xv., 
297 

—— the sluggard’s, Esther, 269 

GARMENT, a flimsy, Isaiah xlix., 
174 

—— the rent, and new, Samuel, 208 

GATE, the strait, Luke xiii., 8 

GATES, walls and, Isaiah xlix., 
188 

GEHAZI, nu. Samuel, 353, 373 

GENEALOGY of Christ, Matthew’s, 
Matthew, 1 

GENERAL, Christ as a, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 300 

GENEROSITY, Abraham’s, Gene- 
sis, 89 

GENESIS, Book of, and traditions, 
Genesis, 56 

creation story in, Genesis, 1 

and Revelation, the Books of, 
Epistles of John, 387 

—— sacred numbers in, Genesis, 58 

GENESIS I. 2, Deuteronomy, 45; 
Matthew, 71 

— 26-II. 3, Genesis, 1 

GENESIS II. 23, Ephesians, 5 

GENESIS IT. 1-15, Genesis, 5 

5, u. Timothy, 285; Epistles 
of John, 361 

—— 6, u. Timothy, 286 

—— 12, no. Corinthians, 175 

— 15, Romans, 389 

—— 19, Matthew, 265; Luke xiii, 
327; wu. Timothy, 333; Peter, 
239, 280 

—— 24, Genesis, 10 

GENESIS IV. 3-16, Genesis, 14 

7, Genesis, 22 

—— 9, Romans, 25 

GENESIS V. 22, Genesis, 32 

24, Genesis, 38 

















GALLIO, Acts, 199; Acts xiii., 165 | GENESIS VL. 1-22, Genesis, 55 


D 






GENESIS IX. 8-17, Genesis, 60 

GENESIS XII. 1-9, Genesis, 16 

— 2, Exodus, 2 

—— 3, Genesis, 314 

—— 5, Genesis, 77 

— 6, 7, Genesis, 82 

— 8, Genesis, 84 

GENESIS XIII. 1-13, Genesis, 85 

GENESIS XIV. 13, Genesis, 71, 
93 

GENESIS XV. 1, Genesis, 111; 
Ephesians, 363 

— 5-18, Genesis, 101 

— 6, Genesis, 116 

GENESIS XVI. 13, Exodus, 131; 
Deuteronomy, 152; uo. Timothy, 
49 

GENESIS XVII. 1, Genesis, 32, 
211 

— 1-9, Genesis, 117 

— 4-5, Exodus, 2 

— 18, Genesis, 123 

GENESIS XVIII. 16-33, Genesis, 
129 

— 18, Exodus, 2 

—— 25, Hebrews, 106 

GENESIS XIX. 15-26, Genesis, 142 

—— 17, u. Timothy, 394 

—— 29, Genesis, 133 

GENESIS XXII. 1-14. Genesis, 152 

— 7, John, 43 

— 12, mn. Corinthians, 52 

—— 14, Genesis, 165 

— 17, u. Timothy, 389 

GENESIS XXIII 4, Exodus, 84; 
Hebrews, 134 

GENESIS XXIV. 27, Genesis, 173, 
217 

GENESIS XXyV. 8, Genesis, 180 

27-34, Genesis, 192 

— 32, Hebrews, 231 

— 34, Genesis, 198; 

231 





Hebrews, 


GENESIS XXVIIL 10-22, Gene 
206 

—— 15, Ephesians, 187 

GENESIS XXXII. 1, 2, Gene 
214 

—— 9-14, Genesis, 222 

—— 28, Psalms, 350; 1 
inthians, 303 

GENESIS XXXV. 1, Genesis, 233 

—— 2-4, Deuteronomy, 184 

—— 29, Genesis, 180 

GENESIS XXXVIL. 23-36, Genesi 
240 

GENESIS XL. 1-15, Genesis, 248 

GENESIS XLL. 38-48, Genesis, 25 

GENESIS XLV. 1-15, Genesis, 26 

GENESIS XLVL. 27, Exodus, 2 

GENESIS XLVIL., Genesis, 279 

—— 9, Hebrews, 134 

GENESIS XLVIIL 15, 16, Gene 
279 

—— 16, Deuteronomy, 6 

— 21, Genesis, 308 

GENESIS XLIX. 18, Hebrews, 137, 
138, 150 

—— 23-24, Genesis, 286 

—— 23, Ezekiel, 115 

—— 24, Genesis, 295 

GENESIS L. 20, Genesis, 241 

—— 24, Genesis, 327, 329, 333 

—— 25, Genesis, 311 

26, Genesis, 328 

GENTILE Heroine, a, Deute 
onomy, 259 

GENTILES, charter for the, Ac 
xiii., 83 

—— Christ and the, Matthew i 
314 

— and the Church, Acts, 295 

—— first-fruits of the, Matthew, I$ 

—— Peter’s apology for, Acts, 310 



























































































GENTLENESS—GLORY 


sl 





GENTLENESS and severity of 
Christ, Matthew xviii., 116 

— succeeding strength, Samuel, 

340 

GEORGE ITI., o. Samuel, 138 

GERSHOM and Eliezer, Exodus, 
80 

GETHSEMANE, Luke xiii., 247; 
mi. Timothy, 342 

— Christ in, Genesis, 230; Mark 
ix., 187 

— the oil press, Matthew xviii., 
261 

GIANTS, afraid of, Exodus, 332 

GIDEON, altar of, Deuteronomy, 
225 

— fleece of, Deuteronomy, 233 

— test by, Deuteronomy, 236 

— victory of, Deuteronomy, 244 

GIFT, the abiding, Acts, 42 

—  Christ’s, of Himself, mu. Tim- 
othy, 172; Hebrews, 47 

—— and giver, the, John, 204 

— God’s unspeakable, nm. Cor- 
inthians, 50 

— of heavenly wisdom, Esther, 
88 

— of man to God, Hebrews, 50 

—— the risen Lord’s, John xv., 
308 

— service is a, Exodus, 352 

—— a spiritual, Romans, 16 

— that brings all gifts, Romans, 
191 

— the universal, 1. Corinthians, 
178 

— wisdom’s, Esther, 130 

— and requirement, Ezekiel, 230 

GIFTS and graces, Romans, 253 

— of Christ as King, Matthew, 72 

—— of Christ as witness, Epistles 
of John, 114 

— of grace and sin, Romans, 110 


GIFTS of peace, John ix., 372 

— of the present Christ, John ix., 
340 

—— of the risen Lord, Matthew 

. Xvili., 360 

— and powers, man’s, Romans, 
241 

—— to the flock, John ix., 24 

to the Prodigal, Luke xiii., 65 

‘GIVE me to drink,’ John, 195 

GIVER and gift, the, John, 204 

of rest, Matthew ix., 153 

GIVING, Christian, Ezekiel, 332, 
336; Matthew, 324 

and asking, u. Corinthians, 20 

blessedness of, Acts xiii., 212 

and forgiving, God’s, Luke 

xiii., 65 

glad, and faithful workers, m. 
Kings, 191 

GLADNESS, a. Kings, 301 

— Christian, Isaiah, 74 

— divine, Isaiah xlix., 235 

—— duty of, u. Corinthians, 313 

features of Christian, Peter, 38 

— look for, Psalms, 159 

real, Esther, 394 

secret of, Mark, 70 

secret of Christian, 

pians, 22 

in the Psalter, Psalms, 12 

GLADSTONE, W. E., death of, 
Exodus, 88 

GLIMPSE of Paul, the last, Acts 
xiii., 376 

‘GLORY,’ a. Timothy, 160 

crown of, Isaiah, 132 

—— endless, power measureleas, 
Ephesians, 180 

— God’s, Psalms, 7; 
78; Peter, 180 

—— and grace, u. Timothy, 159, 
168 
































Philip- 








Romana, 


52 


GLORY of the Cross, John ix, 
199 

—— of God in Christ, Philippians, 
309 

—— of the King, Philippians, 344 

man sharing Christ’s, m. Cor- 
inthians, 394 

—— suffering and, Romans, 160 

*‘GLORYING,’ a. Corinthians, 319 

GO into peace, Luke, 210 

GOAL of progress, Ephesians, 216 

GOAT, the, in temple ritual, 
om. Kings, 236. See also Scape- 
goat 

GOATS and sheep, Genesis, 16 

GOD ALMIGHTY, Psalm li., 94 

GOD, anger in, Mark, 97 

—— answer of, to penitent, Ezekiel, 
130 

—— appears to man, Genesis, 83 

—— approach to, Ezekiel, 288 

—as a banner to His people, 
Exodus, 72 

—— as Father and King, Psalm li., 
221 

— as a fire, Psalms, 107 

— as Host, Psalms, 101 

— as King, Psalms, 114 

—— as Reward, Genesis, 114 

— as a Rock, Deuteronomy, 47 

—— as Shepherd, Psalms, 96 

banished ones of, Samuel, 73 

—— ‘be God,’ Psalms, 168 

—— giving the best to, Genesis, 
84 








the bread of, Exodus, 65 
— the burden-bearing, Psalms, 
93 








character of, and retribution, 
Epistles of John, 348 

— and Christ, faith in, John ix., 
253 

— claims of, are first, Ezekiel, 74 


GLORY—GOD 


GOD, Covenant of, with Abr 
Genesis, 101 

—— and the creature, m. Timo 
61 

—— daily mercies of, Exodus, 63 

— claims of, in the Decalogu 
Exodus, 97 

— declared by Christ’s brothe 
hood, m. Timothy, 240 

—— delighting in, Esther, 56 

delights in man, Psalm li., 20 

—— despising the feast of, Matthe 
Xviii., 126 
354 

—— the divine name of, Exodus, 2: 

the dove of, Matthew, 66 

—— dwelling with men, m. Samue 
190 

—— dwells in the Church, Isai 
170 

— entreaties of, 1. Corinthiar 
380 








— the Eternal Object, Genesis. 


115 
—— the face of, Psalm li., 170, 18 
a faithful, o. Timothy, 58 
—— faithfulness of, Deuteronomy, 
— fatherly discipline by, H 
brews, 250 
— fear of, as motive, no. King 
367 
— fellow-workers with, 1. Co 
inthians, 30 





— foundation of commands of, 


Exodus, 98 
foundation of, Isaiah, 138 





—— friends of, Genesis, 130; He 


brews, 421 
—— and His friend, Genesis, 134 


—— fulfils His promise, m. Samue 


384 
— ‘fulness ’ of, Ephesians, 172 


GOD 


GOD, the future vindicates, He- 
brews, 147 

— gift of, to man, Hebrews, 47 

—— gives for each day, u. Samuel, 
182 

—— the giving, Psalm li., 275 

— and the godly, Psalm li., 255 

— goodness is glory of, Psalms, 7 

—— gprace of, Ephesians, 391 

— guests of, Psalms, 141 

— the hand of, uo. Kings, 311 

—— handwriting of, Isaiah xlix., 9 

the heart of, Psalm li., 274; 
Isaiah xlix., 226; Peter, 101 

—— and His saints, Deuteronomy, 
50 

— how He speaks to man, Gene- 
sis, 18 

— how man knows, Hebrews, 54 

— how to dwell in fire of, Isaiah, 
189 

— how to lay hold upon, Psalm 
li., 159 

— how to meet, Isaiah xlix., 
231 

—— imitators of, Ephesians, 270 

—  immanence of, Isaiah, 265 

—— in the Book of Esther, Esther, 
23, 28 

— in the hands of, Psalms, 170 

—— in nature and history, Isaiah, 
263, 

— inexhaustible love of, Isaiah 
xlix., 336 

—— inheritance of,and ours, Ephes- 
ians, 35 

— invites, Ezekiel, 354 

—— ts heaven, Genesis, 79 

— is inexhaustible, Psalms, 180 

— is ‘jealous,’ Deuteronomy, 189 

— is love and blessing, Psalms, 3 

—is no respecter of persons, 
Acts, 303 





53 





GOD the Joy-bringer, u. Kings, 
301 

—— the last arrow of, Mark ix., 
144 

—— lawsuit of, Isaiah xlix., 245 

— love of, Deuteronomy, 51 

— love of, for prodigals, m1. 
Samuel, 77 

and forgiveness, Psalm li., 14 

sent Christ, ou. Corinthians, 

127 

man’s relation to, Exodus, 107 

man seeks, Hebrews, 107 

—— is man’s treasure. Psalms, 30 

—— mirrors of, Peter, 101 

name of, Exodus, 30 

name of, taking in vain, 

Exodus, 104 

names of, 11. Samuel, 41 

—— nature of (His being and attri- 
butes), Exodus, 23, 30; Psalms, 
248 

—— character of, Isaiah, 55 

—— nearness to, Psalms, 108 

—— is not localised, Psalms, 354 

of Jacob, Genesis, 286; 

Psalms, 342 

of peace, the, Romans, 389; 

Hebrews, 333 

omnipresence of, Genesis, 212 

omniscience of, Deuteronomy, 
152 

—— our companion, Genesis, 50 

—— and our prosaic duty, Genesis, 
216 

— our reward, Genesis, 112 

our rock, Psalm, 165 

—— our satisfaction, Psalms hk, 
78 

— our shield, Genesis, 111 

— owns the land, Exodus, 270 

owns man, Deuteronomy, 32; 

Luke xiii., 197 









































54 


GOD, man partaking of the nature 
of, Peter, 189 

—— is partly revealed, Isaiah, 327 

—— patience of, Deuteronomy, 192; 
m. Kings, 72 

patient pleadings, Isaiah xlix., 
377 

—— the patient worker, 1. Corin- 
thians, 346 

—— patience of, and Israel’s obstin- 
acy, Deuteronomy, 196 

— and the penitent, Isaiah xlix., 
254 

—— personal 
Genesis, 299 

—pitying love of, Ephesians, 
87 

—— pledged by His name, Hebrews, 
148 

—— practice of the presence of, 
Genesis, 211; Exodus, 131; m. 
Samuel, 241; Psalms, 46 

—— proclaims His name, Exodus, 
195 

— promises of, are tests, Psalms, 
232 

—— purpose of, man’s passions 
and, Genesis, 240 

— thwarting, Luke, 170 

—— ‘repentance’ of, Ezekiel, 194 

— rest of, entrance into, m. Tim- 
othy, 312 

—— man’s share in, u. Timothy, 
323 

— results of communion with, 
Genesis, 187 

— results of fear of, Exodus, 90 

— requiting, Psalms, 273 

—— reveals Himself to the obedi- 
ent, Genesis, 72 

—— river and city of, Psalms, 327 

—— the rivers of, Isaiah, 206 

—— the rock, Peter, 286 





relationship to, 


GOD 





















GOD, scrutiny by, longed 
Psalm li., 360 

—— secrets of, revealed, Ger 
130 

—— seeks man, Esther, 1 

—— sees sinners, Genesis, 52 

—— the shepherd of Israel, Exc 
dus, 61 

—— signs of the will of, Deu 
onomy, 234 

— silence before, Psalms, 66 

—— slaves of, Exodus, 279; 
xiii., 119 

—— sojourners with, Exodus, 269 

— sorrow according to, 1. Cor 
inthians, 8 

— the soul’s contemplation ¢ 
Isaiah xlix., 311 

—— stewards of, u. Timothy, 35 

—— strange work of, Isaiah, 147 

—— the sum of the gifts of, Ephe 
ians, 43 

the sum of knowledge cc 
cerning, Epistles of John, 40 

—— sympathy of, Isaiah xlix., 2: 

—— temples of, 1. Corinthians, 47 
50 

—— thirsting for, Psalms, 289 

—— three names of, Genesis, 296 

—— is transcendent, Isaiah, 265 

—— true treasure of, in m 
Deuteronomy, 29 

—— true vision of, John ix., 291 

—— trumpet of, Philippians, 164 

twofold operation of presen 

of, m1. Samuel, 25 

ultimate knowledge abou 
Peter, 356 

—— unchangeable love of, 
xlix., 334 

— union with, r. Corinthians, 11 

—— unknown, declared, Acts xiii, 
140 











} GOD—GOSPEL 


55 





GOD, unspeakable gift of, um. Cor- 
inthians, 50 

—vvindicated by the future, 
Hebrews, 147 

—the vineyard 
‘xviii., 107 

— a vision of, Isaiah xlix., 312 

— the vision of, Matthew, 160; 
Hebrews, 161 

— voice of, refusing, Hebrews, 
268 

— voice of, and man’s echo, 
Hebrews, 277 

— waits for man, Isaiah, 159 

ways of, and man’s, Isaiah 
xlix., 152 

—— wealth of, is ours, Ephesians, 27 

— dwells with men, Psalms, 112 

— will provide, Genesis, 166 

— the will of, is ‘ good pleasure,’ 
Ephesians, 19 

—— ‘with,’ ‘before,’ and ‘after,’ 
Genesis, 32 

— with us, and we with God, 
Psalms, 43 

— work for, abides, Genesis, 76 

— work of, how to work, John, 
280 

— workmanship of, 
works, Ephesians, 108 

— worship of, and images, Exo- 
dus, 102 

— worth of, Psalms, 133 

—— yea of, and man’s amen, I. 
Corinthians, 268 

GOD, THE PRESENCE OF, 
Psalms, 186 

—— —— with man, Genesis, 34, 


of, Matthew 





and our 


36 
—— —— transforms, Genesis, 281 
—— —— is a defence, 336 


GODLESSNESS, harvest of, Isaiah, 
76 





GODLESSNESS, 
Isaiah, 7 

GODLINESS and goodness, Esther, 
191 

—— the gain of, Samuel, 161 

GODLY, and God, Psalms, 255 

‘GOEL,’ the, Isaiah xlix., 386 

GOING FORTH, Genesis, 77 

out, and going in, Peter, 206 

GOLD, true, and its testing, Peter, 
27 

GOLDEN CALF, the, Exodus, 171 

GOLDEN LAMPSTAND, the, Exo- 
dus, 134 

GOLIATH, Deuteronomy, 344 

GOODNESS, Christ nourishes, 
Isaiah, 286 

—— and godliness, Esther, 191 

—— imperfect, Acts xiii., 94 

—— in a dungeon, Genesis, 248 

—— is God’s glory, Psalms, 7 

laid up, Psalms, 179 

—— and omnipotence, Esther, 65 

—— and severity, 11. Kings, 73 

—— wrought, Psalms, 179 

‘GOODWILL,’ Deuteronomy, 61 

GOSPEL, the, Isaiah xlix., 143; 
John, 33, 180 

—— in brief, Philippians, 316 

—— Christ and Crossin the, Peter, 45 

— Christians making it beautiful, 
tu. Timothy, 132 

— a common oral, Mark ix., 203 

— credentials of the Christian, 
Romans, 40 

for all, Philippians, 315 

— glory of, Ezekiel, 103 

—— hope of the, Philippians, 92 

—— immortality and the, Tim- 
othy, 33 

—— meaning of the, Luke, 171 

— mistakes as to the, Acts xiii, 
166 


stupidity of, 











56 


GOSPEL, of judgement, Hebrews, 
251 

—— the object of the, Peter, 190 

—— the only, Luke, 122 

—— power of the, Mark ix., 191 

—— is the power of God, Romans, 
36 

—— a social, m. Kings, 341, 343 

— twofold effect of the, 
Samuel, 27 

—— uniting power of the, Peter, 
155 

—— a universal, Matthew ix., 150, 
156; Matthew xviii., 87 

— what it is, Mark, 1 

GOSPELS, apocryphal, John xv., 
329 

—and epistles, relation of, 
Philippians, 198, 243 

——- features of the four, Matthew, 
3 

—— the, and modern biographies, 
John xv., 329 

GRACE, divine, Romans, 72; 1. 
Corinthians, 44; Ephesians, 98 ; 
u. Timothy, 141 

—— abounding, nm. Corinthians, 42 

access into, Romans, 67 

— established in, Hebrews, 302 

—as fountain, basin, stream, 
1. Corinthians, 43 

and glory, mu. Timothy, 159, 
168 

—— gospel of, Isaiah xlix., 151 

— and graces, Romans, 252 

—— growth in, Peter, 234 

—— and law, Luke xiii., 124 

—— to man, 1. Samuel, 366 

—— the measure of, Ephesians, 207 

mercy and peace, Epistles of 
John, 47 

—— mighty range of, Ephesians, 
391 


qu. 











GOSPEL—GREECE 



























GRACE of Lord Jesus, Luke, 14 
—— and punishment, Ezekiel, 3¢ 
—— purpose of, 1. Timothy, 149 
—— revelation in, Isaiah, 329 
—— school of, u. Timothy, 140 
—— and sin as greens, Rom: 
105 
—— symbolised, Genesis, 110 
—— the throne of, m. Timothy, 
—— triumphant, Acts, 263 
—— and truth, John, 31 
— unmerited, Psalm li., 374 
GRACES, Christian, Romans, § 
304 
—— permanent, r. Corinthians, 1 
—— a triplet of, Romans, 273 
GRATITUDE asa motive, Rom: 
28 
—— beautiful, Philippians, 58 
—— cultivating, Psalm li., 117 
—— David’s, Samuel, 36 
—— and gifts, Luke, 225 
— and its absence, Luke xi 
127 
—— and service, Psalms li., 454 
GRAVE at Bethany, the, John i: 
91 
—— in a garden, the, John xv., 
—— of a servant, Isaiah xlix., 1 
GRAVEL, bread and, Esther, 23) 
GREAT HOPES, Hebrews, 332 
GREAT REFUSAL, the, Matth 
xviii., 47 
GREAT SUIT: Jehovah v. Judal 
Isaiah, 1 
GREAT WORK, great prep 
tions for a, Samuel, 166 
GREATNESS in the kingde 
Luke, 161 
—— true, Luke, 8; Acts xiii., 3 
GREECE, temples of, Genesis, 
84 
— wisdom of, Esther, 131, 


GREETINGS—HALLOWED 


57 





GREETINGS, Christ’s, Matthew | GUESTS, God’s, Psalms, 141, 277 


xviii., 360 
— loving, uo. Corinthians, 200 
— of risen Lord, Matthew xviii., 
360 
—— Paul’s, Philippians, 76 
GRIEF of Jesus, Mark, 94 
GRIP, Christ’s, m. Corinthians, 349 
GROWTH, Christian, Peter, 234 
— by sorrow, Peter, 33 
—— by transplanting, Genesis, 272 
— continuous, Peter, 87 
— death and, Exodus, 5 
— law of, Acts xiii., 109 
— mingled in, Matthew ix., 234 
—— perfection and, 1. Corinthians, 
379, 389 
—— and power of sin, Genesis, 14, 29 
GUARD, relieving the, Exodus, 305 
GUARDIAN, God as, Psalms, 37 
—— of the treasure, u. Kings, 317 
GUEST and host, Jesus a, Luke 
xiii., 154, 341, 355 


—— the two, Psalms, 156 

GUIDANCE, divine, Genesis, 37 ; 
Exodus, 306; Deuteronomy, 99 ; 
u. Samuel, 3 

— how obtained, Acts xiii., 99 

—— in judgement, Psalms, 122 

in the way, Exodus, 173 

perpetual, Isaiah, 12 

GUIDE, the blind man’s, Isaiah, 
295 

the Holy Spirit as, Philip- 

pians, 285 

and home of heart, Philip- 

pians, 277 

into all truth, John xv., 110 

—— of life, the, John ix., 313 

—— qualities of a, Exodus, 329 

—— the Ark as, Deuteronomy, 99 

—— the pillar as, Exodus, 305 

GUILT. cancellation of, Exodus, 
258 

—— is personal, Psalm li., 89 

















H 


HABAKKUK L 11, 16, Deuter- | HABITS, power of, Isaiah xlix., 


onomy, 177 

HABAKKUK III. 4, Isaiah, 19; 
Matthew ix., 286 

— 17, Isaiah xlix., 43, 
Philippians, 26; Peter, 25 

— 18, u. Timothy, 157 

— 19, Ezekiel, 238 

HABITATION of the soul, Psalm 
li., 192 

HABITS, evil, m. Kings, 223; 
Esther, 125 

—— helpful, Isaiah xlix., 170 

—— and mechanical goodness, 1. 
Timothy, 93 

—— of sin, Psalms, 79 


195; 


276; John xv., 386 

are actions hardened, Esther, 
325 

HAGGAI, ao. Kings, 287 

—— as prophet, Ezekiel, 257, 264, 
280 

HAGGAL I. 6, Ezekiel, 249 

HAGGAI II. 1-9, Ezekiel, 257 

HALF-TRUTH, a, Esther, 317 

HALL, Bishop, Deuteronomy, 247, 
278 

‘HALLEL,’ the great, Exodus, 
267 

‘HALLOWED be thy name,’ 
Matthew, 241 





58 


HALLOWING of work and of | HEALING, miracles of, Isaiah, 2 


rest, Exodus, 321 


HALLUCINATIONS, and Christ’s | —— and service, Mark, 32 
Resurrection, 1. Corinthians, 240 | —— swift, Matthew, 386 
—— and Paul’s experience, Philip- | HEALTH, diet and, Ezekiel, 45 


pians, 338 


HAMAN, Genesis, 98; Esther, 1, 3 | —— an established, Hebrews, 
HAND, empty, accepted, Psalm li., | — Eternity in the, Esther, 


374 


— God’s, Deuteronomy, 54; wm. | —— guarding the, Esther, 117 


Kings, 310; Psalms, 171 


—of the God of Jacob, the, | —— the heavenly pathway and 
Genesis, 286 earthly, Genesis, 206 

—— hindrances by the, Matthew | —— home and guide of the, Phili 
xviii., 10 pians, 277 


HAPPINESS, devout, Psalm li., | —— man’s, as a door, Epistles 


131, 139 
—— divine, Philippians, 313 
HAPPY PILGRIMS, Psalm li., 130 
HARAN, Genesis, 69, 118 
—— versus Canaan, Genesis, 80 


HARDENING the heart, uo. Tim- | —— religion in the, Hebrews, 37 


othy, 281 


HARVEST, Christians as speci- | —— and treasure, Matthew, 302 


mens of the, Hebrews, 381 

feast, Exodus, 261 

—— the final, Matthew ix., 241 

—— of a godless life, Isaiah, 76 

—— lessons of the, Exodus, 284 

—— the sluggard in, Esther, 220 

HATE, fruit of, Genesis, 17 

— love that can, Romans, 261 

HATERS of Jesus, Luke xiii., 280 

HATRED as Christ saw it, John xv., 
58 

HAZAEL, Matthew xviii., 237 

—— the story of, m. Kings, 1 

HEALER, Christ the, Mark, 35, 
45, 52; Luke, 260; John ix., 
20; John, 239 

HEALING, divine, Ezekiel, 112 

—— mad method of seeking, Eze- 
kiel, 111 





HALLOWING—HEAVEN 























— gradual, Mark, 318 


HEART, a broken, Samuel, 106 


—— the fixed, Psalm li., 47 


—— hardened, Mark, 102 


John, 306 
—— meaning of the word, 
li., 47; Matthew, 303 
—— of God, Isaiah xlix., 226 
—— a quiet, n. Timothy, 16 


—— sin in the, Isaiah xlix., 155 


HEATHEN, first mission to 
Acts, 315 

—— Britain and the, Ezekiel, 

— how to think of the, John 
41 

—— present 
Esther, 19 

HEAVEN, activity and rest i 
Hebrews, 26 

—— bread from, Luke, 254 

—— asa city, Hebrews, 123 

— Christians as citizens of, 
Corinthians, 233 

— Christ’s work in, Mark ix., 

— Christ’s attitude in, Acts, 21 

— Christ is, John ix., 279 

—— citizens of, m. Corinthians, 

— copies of things in, Exod 
223 


condition of 


HEAVEN—HEB. III. 


59 





HEAVEN described in negatives, 
John, 280 

—— in earnest about, Luke, 342 

— and earth, blending of, Genesis, 
84 

—— and Eden, Genesis, 13 

— entrance to, Epistles of John, 
389 

—— goodness laid up in, Psalms, 
184 

—— our High Priest in, Hebrews, 
18 

— joy of, Esther, 190 

—— the life of, Epistles of John, 
246 

—— mansions of, John ix., 263 

— open vision in, Isaiah, 94 

— perfection of, Psalms, 12 

— positions in, Matthew xviii., 58 

—the rest of, Genesis, 335; 
w. Timothy, 321 

—reunions in, 
Luke, 155 

— rule and rest in, Luke, 379 

—— satisfaction of, Psalms, 65, 298 

silence in, Exodus, 33 

—— the tabernacle of, John, 19 

—— voices from, Isaiah, 244 

—— what is, Matthew xviii., 60 

—— worthy of, Ephesians, 199 

—— Zion as type of, Isaiah, 232 

HEAVENLY PATHWAY, and the 
earthly heart, Genesis, 206 

— PLACES, Ephesians, 13 

— WISDOM, gift of, Esther, 88 

HEBREW, Abram the, Genesis, 
93 

HEB. I. 1, Matthew ix., 194; Mark 
ix., 9; wu. Timothy, 240, 262; 
Hebrews, 262, 272 

— 2,1. Timothy, 211 

—— 3,0. Timothy, 232; Hebrews, 
83 


Genesis, 190; 








HEB. I. 12, Isaiah xlix., 339; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 196 

14, Ephesians, 375; uo. Tim- 
othy, 262, Hebrews, 244 

HEB. II. 1, . Timothy, 42, 205 

2, Ezekiel, 339; Luke, 193; 

Hebrews, 158 

3, Genesis, 310 

—— 8, Mark, 285; mn. Timothy, 
212; Hebrews, 29, 340 

—— 9, Matthew, 18; John xv., 
167; u. Timothy, 212 

—— 10, Deuteronomy, 207; Luke, 
300; Acts, 192; wu. Timothy, 
229; Hebrews, 10, 173 

— 11-13, nm. Timothy, 239 

— 13, o. Samuel, 399 

—— 14, Matthew ix., 380; Acts 
11) 12 

—— 16, Mark, 290; u. Timothy, 
250 

— 16-17, u. Timothy, 235, 

—— 17, Exodus, 282; John, 251; 
u. Timothy, 249; Hebrews, 11, 
15, 16 

—— 18, Exodus, 150 

—— 25, 1. Kings, 342 

—— 33, Ezekiel, 76 

—— 40, Exodus, 305 

HEB. III., Exodus, 63, 343 

—— 1, u. Timothy, 258 

— 6, uu. Corinthians, 274; 
Timothy, 268 

—— 7-8, u. Timothy, 275 

—— 9, Exodus, 62 

— 12, nm. Timothy, 293, 327 

13, Exodus, 293, 369; ou. Tim- 

othy, 285 

14, m. Kings, 212; ou. Tim- 
othy, 295; Epistles of John, 
204 

— 18, u. Timothy, 327 

— 19, Philippians, 154 











tm 








60 


HEB. IV., Exodus, 63 

—— 3, Exodus, 62; Psalm li., 344; 
um. Timothy, 303 

—— 5, u. Timothy, 314 

—— 6, Exodus, 343, 349 

—— 7, John xv., 390 

9, u. Timothy, 310, 312; 
Hebrews, 155; Epistles of John, 
195, 244 

—— 10, um. Timothy, 312 

-—— ll, Exodus, 349; uo. Timothy, 
323, 333 

— 12, Acts xiii., 54 

—— 13, Genesis, 120; um. Timothy, 
341 

—— 14, u. Timothy, 333 

—— 15, Hebrews, 408; u. Timothy, 
337 

—— 16, u. Timothy, 333 

HEB. V. 2, Exodus, 150 

— 7, u. Timothy, 342 

— 12, Esther, 112; 
1m. Corinthians, 357 

HEB. VI. 7, a. Timothy, 349, 365 

—— 8, u. Timothy, 359, 366 

—— 9, u. Timothy, 359 

— 10, Acts xiii., 240 

—— 11, u. Timothy, 367; Peter, 
205 

—— 12, u. Timothy, 377 

—— 17-18, u. Timothy, 399 

—— 18, Esther, 218; Psalm li., 
192; Ezekiel, 351; Philippians, 
96; uo. Timothy, 384, 395 

— 19, Isaiah xlix., 319; oF. Tim- 
othy, 394 

HEB. VIL. 2, Deuteronomy, 232; 
Hebrews, 1 

—— 7, Genesis, 276 

-—— 23, Exodus, 231; John, 13 

—— 24, Hebrews, 290 

—— 25, Exodus, 232, 352; Isaiah 
xlix., 216 





Acts, 83; 


HEB. IV.—HEB. XI. 


HEB. VII. 26, Hebrews, 10 

HEB. VIII. 1-2, Hebrews, 20 

— 5, m Kings, 296; HE 
29 

—— 10, Hebrews, 36, 46 

—— 11, Hebrews, 53 

—— 12, Hebrews, 62 

HEB. [X., Matthew xviii., 250 

—— 11-14, Hebrews, 72 

—— 16-17, Genesis, 108 

—— 22, Exodus, 259 

—— 24-28, Hebrews, 72 

—— 26, 1. Corinthians, 174 

—— 28, Hebrews, 72, 207; Pet 
55 

HEB. X. 7, Luke, 299 

—— 10, Hebrews, 339 

—— 12, Hebrews, 76 

—— 13, um. Timothy, 320 

—— 14, um. Samuel, 327; B 
84 

—— 19, Ezekiel, 293; Mark 
350 

—— 20, Ezekiel, 212 

—— 23, m. Timothy, 59 

—— 34, Hebrews, 92 

—— 35, m. Kings, 212 

—— 39, Hebrews, 98 

HEB. XL. 1, Hebrews, 157 

—— 4, Genesis, 15, 40, 47 

—— 6, Hebrews, 106 

—— 7, Genesis, 53; Hebrews, 1 

—— 8, Genesis, 77 

—— 8-9, Hebrews, 423 

—— 9, Genesis, 71; Hebrews, 

—— 9-10, Genesis, 323 

— 10, Genesis, 189; Hebre 
120 ; 

—— ll, Deuteronomy, 3; a. Ti 
othy, 59; Hebrews, 131 

— 13, Genesis, 277; Hebre 
129 

—— l4, Hebrews, 138, 155 








HEB. XI.—HERALD 


61 





HEB. XI. 16, Genesis, 299, 314;| HEB. XII. 23, Luke xiii., 330; 


Psalms, 365; Hebrews, 147 

—— 17, Genesis, 157 

— 19, Genesis, 165 

22, Genesis, 308, 311 

— 24-27, Hebrews, 156 

— 27, Genesis, 200; Isaiah, 29 

—— 29, Exodus, 57 

— 30, Deuteronomy, 132 

— 31, Deuteronomy, 141 

— 32, Deuteronomy, 246 

— 34, u. Timothy, 15 

HEB. XII. 1, Mark ix., 106; 1. 
Corinthians, 82, 150; Hebrews, 
165; Epistles of John, 159, 
265 

—— 2, Exodus, 209; Deuteronomy, 
130; Esther, 107; Mark ix., 87; 
John xv., 189; 1. Corinthians, 
318; Hebrews, 165, 177, 186, 
199 

— 2-3, Philippians, 278 

— 3, u. Timothy, 258, 265; 
Hebrews, 216; Epistles of John, 
245 

— 4, m. Samuel, 95; Hebrews, 
172, 209 

— Esther, 34; u. Timothy, 141; 
Hebrews, 252 

— 9, Esther, 322 

— 10, Esther, 317; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 118; Philippians, 112; 
Hebrews, 183, 218 

— ll, Exodus, 65; Ezekiel, 99; 
Peter, 20 

— 14, Psalms, 
inthians, 263 

— 16, Genesis, 197 

— 17, Hebrews, 227 

— 18, Matthew, 108 

— 20, Hebrews, 269 

— 22, Ezekiel, 292; Philippians, 
12; Hebrews, 236, 268 





110; «wu Cor- 


Philippians, 195, 219; Hebrews, 
236, 247; Epistles of John, 255 

—— 24, Hebrews, 257 

—— 25, Exodus, 204; John, 374; 
u. Timothy, 277; Hebrews, 268 

— 26, Ezekiel, 261 

—— 27, Ezekiel, 261; m1. Timothy, 
71, 266; Hebrews, 127 

—— 28, Hebrews, 116 

29, Exodus, 21; Psalms, 107 ; 
Matthew, 64 

HEB. XIII. 5-6, Hebrews, 277 

8, Exodus, 72; Ezekiel, 269 ; 

Mark, 146; Philippians, 6; 

Hebrews, 285 

9, Hebrews, 294 

— 10, Exodus, 230; 
303 

— 13, Mark ix., 243 

— 14, Exodus, 85; 
inthians, 239 

— 15, Ezekiel, 129; 
303; Peter, 97 

— 13-16, Hebrews, 313 

—— 20, Hebrews, 332, 346 

—— 21, Hebrews, 342 

‘HEIRS of God,’ Genesis, 113; 
Ephesians, 67 

sons and, Romans, 148 

HELL, groups of sinners 
Genesis, 191 

incorrect use of the word, 

Isaiah, 189 

See also Punishment 

HELP, destruction and, Ezckiel- 
Malachi, 122 

daily, Psalm li., 96 

HEMAN, au. Kings, 80 

HERALD of the King, Matthew, 
37 

— Christ’s charge to the, Mat- 
thew ix., 68 











Hebrews, 


um. Cor- 


Hebrews, 





in, 











62 


HERITAGE, the threefold com- 
mon, Epistles of John, 150 

HEROD and Paul, Acts xiii., 337 

—— and Christ, Luke xiii., 286 

— conscience of, Mark, 247, 256 

—— and the infant Jesus, Matthew, 
21, 25 

—and John Baptist, Matthew 
ix., 263 

—— startled conscience of, Mark, 
247 

HERODS, the, of the New Testa- 
ment, Luke xiii., 286 

HERODIANS, the, Matthew xviii., 
135 

HERODIAS, Matthew ix., 266; 
Luke xiii., 288 

—— daughter of, Mark, 256, 260 

HEROES, faults in Bible, 
Samuel, 202 

HEROINE, a Gentile, 
onomy, 259 

HEROISM, Christian, Romans, 364 

HEZEKIAH, death of, m. Kings, 66 

deliverance of, mo. Kings, 55; 
Psalms, 328 

——a pattern of devout life, um. 
Kings, 47 

—— reformation under, om. Kings, 
225, 233 

and Sennacherib, Isaiah, 235 

—— trial of, mn. Kings, 243 

HID, and not hid, Psalm li., 292 

—— in light, Psalms, 186 

HIDDEN and revealed, Isaiah, 326 

HIDING-PLACE, the, Isaiah, 176 

HIGH PRIEST, mitre of a, Exodus, 
162 

—— —— the palace of a, Luke 
xiii., 264 

—— —— real and counterfeit, 
Matthew xviii., 286 

—— —— prayer of, John xv., 203 


qr. 


Deuter- 








HERITAGE—HOLY ONE 






















HIGHWAY, the king's, Isaiah, $ 


HIRAM, uo. Samuel, 170 
Historical Geography of the Hi 
Iand, Smith’s, Matthew, 417 
HISTORY, a cradle, and 
world’s, Exodus, 14 
—— God’s hand in, Exodus, 59 
—— God in, Isaiah, 263; John 
364 
—— the Gospel as, Mark, 3 
—— and miracles, m. Samuel, 3: 
—— political, Isaiah, 46 
—— Providence in, Matthew 
146 
—— retribution in, Matthew 
146, 158 
—— used by Hosea, Ezekiel, 94 
HOBAB, Exodus, 314 
HOLDING FAST, and held f 
um. Kings, 176 
HOLINESS, a. Corinthians, 370 
—— and access to God, Ezekiel, 2 
—— blessings of, Ezekiel, 23 
—— is character, Peter, 315 
— is consecration, u. & 
inthians, 5 
element of, Psalm li., 19 
—— enjoined, Philippians, 171 
—— hope and, m. Corinthians, 
—— motive for, Peter, 67 
—— the pattern of, Peter, 62 
—— and prayer, Psalm li., 25 
is progressive, Hebrews, § 
Peter, 259 
root idea of, Exodus, 153 — 
HOLY COMMUNION, Mark, 2: 
See also Lord’s Supper 
HOLY FATHER! John xv., I$ 
HOLY OF HOLIES of New Te 
ment, John, 170 
‘HOLY ONE of Israel,’ 1. Kings, 











a 


HOLY PLACE—HOPE 


63 





HOLY PLACE, the priest in the, 
Hebrews, 72 
HOLY SPIRIT as the Christian’s 
ally, John xv., 67; u. Timothy, 43 
—— —— cleansing by the, Mark 
ix, 56, 64 
—— —— as Comforter, John ix., 
320 
—— —— as dew, Ezekiel, 136 
: — as a dove, Matthew, 66 
ee — as fire, Matthew, 48 
—— —— fruit of the, um. Corinth- 
 jans, 162 
. —— the gift of the, Ezekiel, 
197; 1. Corinthians, 178 
—— —— grieving the, Ephesians, 
262 
—— our hope, Romans, 87 
—— the indwelling, Hebrews, 
364 
—— intercession of, Romans, 
186 
—— —— as life-giver, Ezekiel, 30 
—— makes good men, Acts, 
«B49 
—— —— offices of, John xv., 95, 
99 
—— —— as Guide and Teacher, 
John xv., 110 
—— and Pentecost, Acts, 44 


— —— purifying by the, Peter, 
| 82 







'—— —— as teacher, John ix., 361 

— as witness, John xv., 71; 
Romans, 142 

—— —— work of, in soul, Ezekiel, 





| 22 
—and the Resurrection 
body, Romans, 184 
—— —— the seal of, 1. Corinthians, 
287 


— walking in the, um. Cor- 
inthians, 155 


HOLY SPIRIT, mightiness of the, 
Ephesians, 133 

— energies of the, Epistles 

of John, 237 

names and symbols of, 
Epistles of John, 326 

HOME, duty to the, Mark, 190 

the heart’s, Philippians, 278 

— the heavenly, Ezekiel, 91 

—— Christianity and, Rom., 359 

—— death is going, 1. Corinthians, 
356 

—— the way to, Acts, 278 

HOMELAND, the Christian’s, He- 
brews, 138 

HOME-LIFE, hallowed, Esther, 
295 

HONOUR in the Church, um. Tim- 
othy, 81 

HOPE, Psalm li., 114 

— in Achor Valley, Ezekiel, 95 

as anchor, 0. Timothy, 396 

—— a bright, Ephesians, 233 

—— the Christian’s, Psalm li., 119 

confident, u. Timothy, 268 

and consolation, Philippians, 
267 

—— cultivation of, Peter, 59 

and diligence, Peter, 225 

—— and divine covenants, Genesis, 
63 

—— the duty of, Hebrews, 332 

—— experience, resolve, and, Psalm 
li., 265 

— and fear as motives, um. Cor- 
inthians, 6 

—— the God of, Romans, 344 

a good, Philippians, 273 

—— the Gospel, Philippians, 92 

—— grounds of, Psalms, 304 

—— the happy, u. Timothy, 158 

—— and holiness, nm. Corinthians, 1 

— infiuence of, Peter, 310 


























64 


HOPE, and its fruit, Philippians, 155 

—— and joy, Romans, 274 

— and memory, Mark, 315 

— of the calling, the, Ephesians, 
52 

— origin of 
Roman, 331 

—— permanence of, 1. Corinthians, 
186 

—— purifying influence of, Peter, 
310 

— sources of, Romans, 77 

— sure and certain, uo. Timothy, 
367 

—— two kinds of, Esther, 40 

— the ultimate, Exodus, 63 

—— warning and, u. Corinthians, 
391 

HOPEFULNESS, reasons 
Christian, Romans, 82, 86 

HOPELESSNESS of a godless life, 
Isaiah xlix., 251 

HOPHNI and PHINEAS, Deuter- 
onomy, 279. 

HOREB, Elijah at, o. Samuel, 264 

HOSEA, ut. Kings, 215 

—— and invasion, Ezekiel, 108 

—— used history, Ezekiel, 94 

HOSEA IL. 8, Ezekiel, 115 

— 15, Ezekiel-Malachi, 94 

—— 17, Ezekiel, 100 

HOSEA V. 5, Ezekiel, 173 

— 13, Ezekiel 108 

— 14, Peter, 242 

—— 15, Ephesians, 146; Hebrews, 
282 

HOSEA X. 1-15, 114 

HOSEA XI. 1, Matthew, 31 

—— 3, Deuteronomy, 60 

—— 4, Esther, 123 

HOSEA XII. 4, Genesis, 227 

HOSEA XIII. 9, Ezekiel, 122; 
Luke, 177 


the Christian’s, 


for 


HOPE—HUMILIATION 




















HOSEA XIV. 1-4, Isaiah 
256; Ezekiel, 113, 127; 
xiii., 27 

be oe» 5, 6, Ezekiel, 127, 134 

—— 7-9, Ezekiel, 127 

HOSPITALS, the witness 
Matthew, 394 

HOST, the captain of the Lor 
Deuteronomy, 123 

— Christ as our, Esther, 142 

— God as, Psalms, 101, 141 

— Jesus as, Luke xiii., 27 

‘HOSTS ’ of God, Psalms, 343 

HOSTILITY, Christians 
Romans, 296, 302 : 

—— man’s, to God, Isaiah, 121 — 

HOURS of insight, Isaiah xlix., 

HOUSE and its vessels, the, m. Tix 
othy, 77 

HOUSE OF OBED-EDOM, 
in Ark the, Samuel, 21 

HOUSE, the old and the 
1. Corinthians, 353 

HOUSES on rock and sand, 
thew, 353; Luke, 136 

HOUSEHOLDER, parable of 
Mark ix., 157 

HOUSEHOLDS, two, Romans, 3 

HULDAH, u. Kings, 64, 267 

HUMAN NATURE, kindness ec 
mon to, Exodus, 15 

—— —— Bible view of, Rom 
209 

HUMANITY as a dead wo 
Ezekiel, 29 

Christ’s view of, Luke, 89° 

— Christ one with, John ix., 

—— Christ separate from, John 
155 

—— the claims of, Romans, 23 

— condition of, Luke, 262 — 

HUMILIATION, Christ’s, Jc 
197; wu. Corinthians, 254 





& 

i 

HUMILITY, an example of, Ro- 
mans, 396 

—— the apron of, Peter, 131 

-— blessedness of, Matthew, 111 

-— lessons in, Mark ix., 45 

= of Job, Isaiah, 33, 39 

— seraphic, Isaiah, 33 

HUNGER, Christ and, Matthew, 80 

—which is blessed, Matthew, 

136 

HUSBAND, Christ as, Mark, 78, 
134 

— and wife, Romans, 359 

HUSBANDMAN, the Christian as, 
Esther, 174 

— and his operations, Isaiah, 150 


*T,’ David avoids using, u. Samuel, 
39 

*T AM THAT I AM,’ Deuteronomy, 
64; Psalms, 181 

IBYCUS, the cranes of, Genesis, 19 

IDEAL, the, in statesmanship, 
Exodus, 88 

— the true, Hebrews, 29 

IDLENESS, Esther, 373 

IDOLATERS, pliable Christians 
and the, Isaiah xlix., 246 

— faithful, Ezekiel, 218 

— rebuke Christians, Isaiah xlix., 
248 

IDOLATRY, fascination of, Exodus, 
178 

—— foolish, Isaiah, 308 

— horror at, Acts xiii., 68 

— intolerant, Ezekiel, 57 

—— Israelites and, Deuteronomy, 
198 

— Jewish proclivity to, Isaiah 
xlix., 249 


HUMILITY—IMAGE 


65 


| HUSBANDMEN, wicked, Matthew 
xviii., 107 
HUSBANDRY, God’s, 1. Timothy, 
355 
HYMN, Jewish marriage, Psalms, 
307 
of victory, David’s, Samuel, 
119 
—— Zacharias’s, Luke, 24 
HYMNS, New Testament, Luke, 17, 
24 
—— unity in, Ephesians, 394 
—— value of, n. Kings, 83 
and victory, m. Kings, 175, 177 
HYPOCRISY, Luke xiii, 6; 
Romans, 262; uo. Timothy, 93 








I 


IDOLATRY, Manasseh’s, 0. Kings, 
253 

—— nature of, 0. Samuel, 227 

—— origin of, m. Kings, 35 

—— in the dark, Ezekiel, 5 

— under Ahaz, u. Kings, 216 

IDOLS, English churches and, 
Ezekiel, 217 

modern, m. Kings, 218 

the Old Testament 

Ezekiel, 185 

our, Exodus, 101 

‘IF, a momentous, u. Timothy, 
295 

‘IF He find it,’ Matthew xviii., 33 

IGNORANCE and criminality, 
Psalms, 70 

of the future, Peter, 305 

of results, Matthew xviii., 326 

IMAGE, the, and the stone, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 48 

and superscription, whose? 

Luke xiii., 195 





and, 

















66 


IMAGERY, 
Malachi, 1 

IMAGES of God, forbidden, Exodus, 
107 

IMAGINATION, polluted, Isaiah 
xlix., 297 

IMITATION of Christ’s miracles, 
Acts, 288 

—of God by 
Ephesians, 270 

IMMANUEL. See Emmanuel 

IMMORTALITY, Esther, 322 

— belief in, Genesis, 308, 312 

—— blessed, Psalm li., 138 

— heathen thoughts of, Esther, 45 

— hope and, Esther, 41, 45 

— importance of doctrine of, 
Epistles of John, 188 

—— in Old Testament, Psalms, 43 

—— individual, Psalms, 365 

—— man’s, Genesis, 189; Esther, 
337; Luke xiii., 107 

— natural, Esther, 46 


chambers of, Ezekiel- 


His children, 


— natural, reasons for, Esther, 248 | 


— of bodily life, Romans, 179 

—— promised, Psalm li., 216 

— proof of, Psalm li., 107 

IMPERFECT BELIEF, John xyv., 
174 

—— faith, Naaman’s, Samuel, 368 

IMPERFECTION, sense of, 11. Cor- 
inthians, 373, 389 

IMPORTANCE of a choice, the, 
Genesis, 85 

IMPORTUNITY, because of His, 
Genesis, 129 

‘IMPOSSIBLE—only I saw it,’ 
Samuel, 383 

IMPOSSIBILITY made possible, 
Isaiah, 274 

IMPULSE, a life of, Psalms, 74 

IMPURITY, sins of, 1. Corinthians, 
55 


IMAGERY—INDIVIDUALS 
























“IN CHRIST,’ Ephesians, 16, 111 _ 
‘—— the Holy Mount,’ Luke, 286 
‘—— that day,’ John xv., 140 
‘—— this mountain,’ Isaiah, 80 
‘— remembrance of Me,’ t. Cor. 
inthians, 168 
INCARNATION, the, John, 17 
announced, Luke, 40, 48 
—— dream and reality of the, Aci 
xili., 74 
— the, hallows common 
Genesis, 178 
—— meaning of, Matthew ix., 38€ 
mystery of the, Matthew, 9 
John xv., 222 
rationale of, Luke xiii., 58 
INCENSE, the altar of, Exodus, 15 
of prayer, Psalm li., 369 
—— prayer as, Exodus, 160 
—— symbol of, Psalm li., 371 
INCONSISTENCY, Christian, m 
Timothy, 135 
INCONSTANCY, John Mark an¢ 
Acts xiii., 20 
INCREASE by use, Matthew i 
225 
INCREDULITY of Thomas, Jok 
xv., 321 
of disciples, Mark ix., 248 
INDECISION, danger of, Acts xiii 

















INDIFFERENCE, the curse o 
Acts xiii., 277 

—— in Christians, m. Timothy, 

sin of, Isaiah, 7 

—— to religion, Matthew ix., 230 

INDIVIDUAL, the, Christ d, 
Hebrews, 2 

reform of, m. Kings, 343 

INDIVIDUALS, Christ’s questic 
to, John ix., 81 








INDOLENCE—INTOLERANCE 





INDOLENCE, sin of, Matthew 
Xviii., 202 

INDUSTRIES, sweated, 1. Samuel, 
145 

INDWELLING, Christ’s, John xv., 
218 

INFANTS slain, Matthew, 32 

INFINITUDE, creation 
Isaiah xlix., 338 

INFIRMITIES as symbols, Isaiah, 
217 

INFLUENCE of hope, Peter, 310 

—— unconscious, John xv., 303 

INGATHERING, the feast of, 
Exodus, 115 

INHABITANT of the Rock, Isaiah, 
111 

INHERITANCE, 
Philippians, 107 

— the earnest of, Ephesians, 43 

— God’s, and ours, Ephesians, 
35 

—— in the Saints, God’s, Ephes- 
jans, 62 

— thankfulness for, Philippians, 
106 

INIQUITY, Psalm li., 3 

—— meaning of, Exodus, 201 

— sin as, Psalms, 196 

— man’s burden of, Acts, 126 

INJUNCTION, how to obey an 
impossible, Philippians, 31 

INJURIES, Christians and, Ro- 
mans, 301 

INJUSTICE, victim and doer of, 
‘Ezekiel, 79 

INNOCENCE of Christ, Isaiah xlix., 
35 

— wise, Esther, 78 

INSANITY and demoniacal posses- 
sion, Deuteronomy, 351 

— sane, Mark, 119 

— Saul’s Deuteronomy, 375 


and, 


the Christian, 








67 

INSCRIPTIONS on the victor, 
Epistles of John, 280 

— meanings of, Exodus, 151 

INSENSIBILITY, cause of, Luke 
xiii., 292 

INSINCERITY, sin of, Ezekiel, 
115 

INSPIRATION continuous, John 
ix., 370 


INSTITUTIONS, Christ and 
changing, Hebrews, 291 


INTELLECT, cultivate the, Esther, 
232 

the, and Christian teaching, 

Timothy, 34 

conceit of, Romans, 293 

INTEMPERANCE, Esther, 
245 

national ruin by, Isaiah, 126 

sin of, Ezekiel, 246 

INTERCESSION by Holy Spirit, 
Romans, 186 

—— by Moses, Exodus, 73 

— by Christ, Hebrews, 201 

—— the duty of, Genesis, 139 

—— Job’s, Esther, 69 

—— meaning of, Exodus, 146 

results of, Mark, 64 

INTERCESSOR, the, John xv., 
187 

—— Christ as, Luke xiii., 241, 302 

INTERCOURSE of God and His 
friend, the, Genesis, 134 

INTERMEDIATE state, the, Luke, 
106, 324 

—— —— Christ and the, 
xiii., 304 

INTERVIEW, Christ’s, with Peter, 
Luke xiii., 366 

‘INTO THY HANDS,’ Psalms, 
170 

INTOLERANCE, holy, 
inthians, 55 








221, 











Luke 


1. Cor- 


INTOXICANTS, example of drink- 
ing, 1. Corinthians, 166 

—— sin by using, Exodus, 246 

INVASION by Assyria, Ezekiel, 108 

INVITATION, Christ’s last, Epistles 
of John, 391 

God’s, Ezekiel, 354 

to the thirsty, John, 316 

IRONY, Amos’s, Ezekiel, 151 

‘IS IT I?’ Matthew xviii, 232; 
Mark ix., 182 

ISAAC, household of, Genesis, 192 

life of, Genesis, 202 

— sacrifice of, Genesis, 153 

ISAIAH, book of, Isaiah, 244, 249 

—— rebukes drunkenness, Isaiah, 
129 

—and reformation, ou. Kings, 
234 

the vision of, Isaiah, 18 

ISAIAH L. 1, 2, Isaiah, 1 

— 3, Isaiah, 1; Luke xiii., 130 

— 4-9, Isaiah, 1 

— 16, Isaiah, 1; Philippians, 358 

— 17, Isaiah, 1 

— 18, Exodus, 259; Isaiah, 1 

—— 19, 20, Isaiah, 1 

— 30, 31, Isaiah, 9 

ISALAH II. 3, Ezekiel, 52 

— 8, Ezekiel, 217 

—— 17, Matthew xviii., 161 

ISAIAH IV. 2, Ezekiel, 285 

— 5, Exodus, 21; Isaiah, 12 

ISAIAH V., Mark ix., 144 

—— 2, Ephesians, 307 

—— 3, Mark ix., 138, 144, 

—— 8-30, Isaiah, 13 

ISAIAH VI. 1, Isaiah, 18, 24; 
Ezekiel, 267 ; Hebrews, 290 

— 2-5, Isaiah, 18 

— 2, Isaiah, 18-29 

— 5, Isaiah, 18, 36; Luke, 113 

— 6-7, Isaiah, 18 














INTOXICANTS—ISAIAH XXVI. 

















ISAIAH VL. 8, Isaiah, 18; 1 Co 
inthians, 110 

—— 10-13, Isaiah, 18 

ISAIAH VIIL 6, Isaiah, 45 

—— 7, Isaiah, 45 

—— 13, Peter, 117 

ISAIAH IX. 1, Matthew, 37 

—— 2, Isaiah, 48; 1 Corinthi 
59 

—— 3-6, Isaiah, 48 

—— 6, Isaiah, 48; Matthew, 1 
Philippians, 252; mo. Timoth 
223 


—— 7, Isaiah, 48 ; Hebrews, 10 
ISAIAH X. 14, m. Corinthians, 18° 
Hebrews, 386 
—— 17, Isaiah, 55 
ISALAH XI. 1, Isaiah, 56; Ezek 
285 
—— 2, Isaiah, 56; Ezekiel, 286 
—— 3-9, Isaiah, 56 
—— 10, Isaiah, 56; Hebrews, 22 
ISAIAH XII. 1, Epistles of Je 
385 
—— 2, Exodus, 61; mo Timoth 

332; Hebrews, 284 
—— 3, Isaiah, 64; Epistles 
John, 338 
ISAIAH XVII. 10, Isaiah, 76 
— 1], Isaiah, 76 
ISAIAH XIX. 12, no. Kings, 56 
—— 24, Esther, 22; John ix., € 
ISAIAH XX. 21, Epistles of 
105 
ISAIAH XXII. 25, John, 337 
ISAIAH XXIII. 18, Ephesians, ¢ 
ISAIAH XXV. 6, Isaiah, 80, 9€ 
—7, Isaiah, 80, 92; 4% C 
inthians, 310 
— 8, Isaiah, 80 
—— 9, Philippians, 312 
ISAIAH XXVI. 1, Deuteronom 
144; Isaiah, 95, 102 


ISAIAH XXVI.—ISAIAH XL. 


69 





ISAIAH XXVI. 2, Isaiah, 95, 102 

— 3, Deuteronomy, 229; Isaiah, 
95, 111; Philippians, 292 

— 4, Psalms, 169; 
111 

—— 5-10, Isaiah, 95 

ISAIAH XXVII. 5, Isaiah, 121 

ISAIAH XXVIII., Ezekiel, 167 

— l, Isaiah, 125 

— 2, Isaiah, 125 

— 3-5, Isaiah, 125, 132 

— 6-9, Isaiah, 125 

— 10, Genesis, 102; uw. Kings, 
250; Isaiah, 125 

— 11-13, Isaiah, 125 

—— 16, Psalm li, 312; Isaiah, 
138; Matthew, 356; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 208; Philippians, 229, 
388 

— 17, 21, Isaiah, 147 

— 23-29, Isaiah, 150 

ISAIAH XXIX. 8, Psalms, 65; 
Hpistles of John, 395 

ISAIAH XXX. 10, Matthew xviii., 
163 

— 15, Isaiah, 155, 271 

— 18, Isaiah, 159 

— 21, Hebrews, 391 

— 29, Isaiah xlix., 221 

ISAIAH XXXI. 5, Isaiah, 161 

—— 9. Isaiah, 168 

ISAIAH XXXII. 2, Isaiah, 13, 
176; John, 318; uw. Timothy, 
391 

— II, Peter, 351 

— 16, Philippians, 324 

ISAIAH XXXII. 14, Exodus, 22; 
Psalms, 107; Isaiah, 189; Mat- 
thew, 52 

— 15, Isaiah, 189 

— 16, Genesis, 303; Psalms, 

165; Isaiah, 199; Hebrews, 97 

— 17, Genesis, 320 


ISAIAH XXXIII. 21, Isaiah, 206; 
Ezekiel, 32 
22, Isaiah, 213 





Isaiah, 95, | —— 24, Isaiah, 234 


ISAIAH XXXV. 5, Isaiah, 215 
Matthew, 397; Matthew ix., 124 

6, Isaiah, 215, 221; Matthew, 
ix., 124 

—— 7, Isaiah, 221 

— 8, Isaiah, 224 

— 9, Isaiah, 224, 229; Hebrews, 
185 

— 10, Isaiah, 229; 
150 

ISAIAH XXXVII. 14, Isaiah, 235 
242 

— 15-38, Isaiah, 235 

ISAIAH Xt. 1, Isaiah, 244 

—— 2, Isaiah, 244, 263 

— 3-4, Isaiah, 244 





John xv., 


.|— 4, Isaiah, 244; John, 180; 


John ix., 31 

5-8, Isaiah, 244 

—— 8, Exodus, 116; Ezekiel, 268, 
272; Luke xiii., 283 

—— 6-8, 1. Corinthians, 29, 244 

—— 9, Isaiah, 244, 251; Matthew 
ix., 82 

— 10, Exodus, 62; Isaiah, 244 

—— 11, Genesis, 301; Exodus, 68 

—— 12, nu. Kings, 311 

—— 18, Ephesians, 271 

—— 24, Mark, 287 

—— 26, Isaiah, 268; 
79; Philippians, 17 

—— 28, 29, Ephesians, 134 

—— 28, Exodus, 24; Isaiah, 263 

—— 29, Isaiah, 268 

30, Psalms, 250; Isaiah, 276 

Mark ix., 263 

31, Deuteronomy, 47, 60, 76; 

Esther, 107; Isaiah, 276; Isaiah 

xlix., 274 





Ephesians, 








E2 


70 


ISAIAH XLI. 11, Luke xiii., 367 

ISAIAH XLII. 3, Isaiah, 136, 286 ; 
Mark ix., 148 

— 4, Isaiah, 286 

— 8, Ezekiel, 217 

— 16, Isaiah, 295 

ISAIAH XLIII. 1, Isaiah, 296; 
Mark ix., 293; Philippians, 17 

— 2, Genesis, 101; 1. Corinthians, 
61 

— 7, Isaiah, 296 

— 9, Isaiah xlix., 32 

— 21, Deuteronomy, 39; 
xiii., 259 

ISAIAH XLIV. 1, Isaiah, 298 

— 2, Isaiah, 298 

— 3, Isaiah, 222 

— 6, Epistles of John, 148 

— 20, Isaiah, 307 

— 22, Isaiah, 317; Isaiah xlix., 
301; Hebrews, 65 

ISAIAH XLV. 3, Isaiah, 297 

—— 12, 13, Isaiah, 332 

— 15, Isaiah, 326 

— 16, Genesis, 279 

— 19, Genesis, 81; Isaiah, 326 

— 22, Exodus, 206, 367; Mark 
ix., 309; 1. Corinthians, 384 

ISAIAH XLVL 1, John ix., 72 

—— 3, Deuteronomy, 60 

—— 4, Deuteronomy, 60; Isaiah, 
206 

ISAIAH XLVIII. 18, Isaiah, 336; 
Hebrews, 3 

ISAIAH XLIX. 1, Isaiah, 297 

—— 4, Romans, 21 

—— 5, u. Corinthians, 289 

— 1-6, Isaiah xlix., 15 

— 9, Isaiah xlix., 1 

— 11, Isaiah xlix., 7 

— 165, Isaiah xlix., 9 

— 16, Exodus, 51, 148; Isaiah 
xlix., 9; Philippians, 18 


Acts 


ISAIAH XLI.—ISAIAH LII. 















ISAIAH XLIX. 2], Mark, 
John ix., 50 
ISAIAH L. 2, Luke, 15, 91 
— 4, Isaiah xlix., 15 
—— 5, Isaiah xlix., 20 
—— 6, Isaiah xlix., 22; Mark ix 
218 
—— 7, Isaiah xlix., 26; 29 
—— 8, 9, Isaiah xlix., 31 
— 10, Isaiah xlix., 39 
— 1), Isaiah xlix., 47 


—— 10, Isaiah xlix., 71 
— 11, Exodus, 76; Isaiah xli: 
75 
— 12, Exodus, 54; Isaiah xlix 
78 
—— 13, Isaiah xlix., 114 
— 15, Isaiah xlix., 119 
ISAIAH LIL, Exodus, 
Isaiah xlix., 25, 221 
—— 1, Isaiah xlix., 88; Ezekie 
285 
— 2, 3, Isaiah xlix., 92 
—— 3, Philippians, 291 
— 4, Matthew, 389; 2 
xviii., 310; um. Timothy, 
Peter, 47 
—— 4-6, Isaiah xlix., 97 
— 5, John xv., 229; m Co 
inthians, 63; Philippians, 48 
— 6, Mark ix., 242; John 
272; Philippians, 211; uo. Tir 
othy, 257, 345; Peter, 257 
7-9, Isaiah xlix., 103 
— 7, Genesis, 204; Matthey 
xviii, 312; Acts, 253; Phili 
pians, 283 





ISATIAH LITI.—ISRAEL 


71 





ISAIAH LIII. 10, Isaiah xlix., 108 ; 
Hebrews 18 

—— 1], Isaiah xlix., 113; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 383 

— 12, Isaiah xlix., 114, 117 

ISATAH LIV. 5, Psalms, 317 

—10, Psalm li, 348; 
xlix., 125 

ISAIAH LV. 1-13, Isaiah xlix., 134 

— 1, Isaiah, 75; Isaiah xlix., 
142 ; Matthew, 142 ; Matthew ix., 
261; Luke xiii., 63; John, 212; 
Epistles of John, 301 

— 2, Esther, 385; Psalms, 52; 
Isaiah, 311; Luke xiii, 74; 
John, 260; Romans, 200; 1. 
Corinthians, 89; Ephesians, 241 

— 3, 1. Corinthians, 204 

—— 7, Isaiah xlix., 152; Mark ix., 
301 ; mm. Corinthians, 17 

— 8-9, Isaiah xlix., 152 

— 9, Matthew xviii., 43; Ephes- 
jans, 170 

— 10,u. Timothy, 350 ; Hebrews, 
383 

ISAIAH LVI. 12, Isaiah xlix., 162; 
Ephesians, 216, 373 ; um. Timothy, 
127, 373, 398 

ISAIAH LVII. 15, Luke xiii., 366 ; 
Ephesians, 148 

—— 20, Luke, 202; Ephesians, 390; 
Hebrews, 3 

ISAIAH LVIII. 1, Ephesians, 285, 
313 

— 6, Luke xiii., 7 

—— 10, nv. Kings, 343 

— ll, Psalms, 334 

ISATAH LIX. 6, Isaiah xlix., 174 

ISATAH LX.., Ezekiel, 263 

— 1, Exodus, 144; Matthew, 
199; Johnix., 53; 1. Corinthians, 
315; wo. Corinthians, 243, 286; 
Ephesians, 318 


Isaiah 





ISAIAH LX. 1-3, Isaiah xlix., 176 

—— 2. . Corinthians, 319 

—— 18, Isaiah xlix., 188 

—— 19, Epistles of John, 368 

—— 20, Ephesians, 219 

ISATAH LXI. 1, Isaiah xlix., 201; 
Matthew ix., 124; Epistles of 
John, 181 

3, Isaiah xlix., 191; Ezekiel, 
142 

— 10, Peter, 138 

ISALAH LXII. 1-7, Isaiah xlix., 200 

—— 7, Genesis, 66 

ISATAH LXIII. 1, Isaiah xlix., 217, 
221; m1. Timothy, 164 

—— 2-3, Isaiah xlix., 221 

—— 3, Matthew ix., 286 

—— 9, Exodus, 150; Deuteronomy, 
46; Isaiah xlix., 226 

—— 138, Epistles of John, 109 

ISAIAH LXIV. 5, Isaiah xlix., 
231 

ISAIAH LXV. 12, Psalms, 154 

— 16, Isaiah xlix., 237 

—— 24, John ix., 80 

ISHBOSHETH, un. Samuel, 6 

ISHMAEL, Genesis, 118 

prayer for, Genesis, 123 

ISRAEL, Isaiah, 298 

—— as a woman, Isaiah xlix., 176 

—— the beloved, Deuteronomy, 57 

defeat of, and Achan’s sin, 

Deuteronomy, 145 

faithlessness of, and God’s 

patience, Deuteronomy, 192 

Jonah represents, Ezekiel, 182 

—the national and personal, 
Matthew, 31 

— obstinacy of, Deuteronomy, 
196 

preservation of nation of, 

Exodus, 21 

restored, Ezekiel. 20 































ISRAEL, returning, Ezekiel- 








Malachi, 127 Deuteronomy, 198 
—— the shepherd, the stone of,|—— kingdom of, divided, 
Genesis, 295 Samuel, 209, 217 
sin of, Ezekiel, 114 ISSUE of blood cured, 
— delivered from Egyptians,| 199 
Exodus, 53 ——a grave, from a small 
—— drunkenness of, Isaiah, 128 Acts xiii., 96, 111 
—— and the Gentile world, Deuter- | —— of life, unexpected, 
onomy, 264; u. Samuel, 199 363 


—— God the Shepherd of, Exodus, | ITTAI, Samuel, 97 
62 


J 


JACOB, Genesis, 193; Isaiah, 298 | JAMES and Paul, teaching 
—— the angels and, Genesis, 102 Hebrews, 417 

—— bargain by, Genesis, 198 and Peter, Acts, 369 
character of, Genesis, 213 —— and Stephen, Acts, 367 
— deceived, Genesis, 246 JAMES LI. 2, Corinthians, 86 











—— God of, Genesis, 286; Psalms, |—— 3, Hebrews, 416 
342 —— 4, Hebrews, 351 
— household of, Genesis, 234 —— 5, Hebrews, 360-434 
old age of, Genesis, 276 —— 6, Hebrews, 416 
— transformed, Genesis, 228 —— 7, Philippians, 358 





the vision of, Genesis, 206 12, tu Corinthians, 
—— wrestling, Genesis, 222, 278 ; Hebrews, 368 








Isaiah, 299 17, Ephesians, 14 
JAILER, the Philippian, Acts xiii.,|; —— 18, Hebrews, 376, 393 
119 —— 19, Hebrews, 431 
JAIRUS, Matthew ix., 34 —— 21, Ephesians, 377 
— Christ to, Luke, 245 —— 25, Hebrews, 386 
—— daughter of, healing of, Mark, | —— 26, Hebrews, 431 
194; Luke, 242; John, 265 —— 27, Hebrews, 397; Peter, 
JAMES the Apostle, Mark, 109; | JAMES II. 1, Hebrews, 406 
John xv., 338 —— 1-5, Hebrews, 416 
—in Church conference, Acts | —— 7, Epistles of John, 62 
xiii., 88 —— 14-16, Hebrews, 415 
—— in youth and age, Acts, 372 — 17, t Corinthians, 42; 
—— and John, Acts, 370 brews, 415 
—— the Just, Hebrews, 387 — 18, John, 287; Hebrews, 


—— martyrdom of, Acts, 366 — 19, Hebrews, 415 








JAMES Ii.—JER. XXVIII. 


73 





: AMES II. 20, Philippians, 388 ; 

Hebrews, 415 

— 21, Hebrews, 415 

— 22, Philippians, 388 ; Hebrews, 

: 415 

— 23, Genesis, 103, 134; Mat- 

| thew ix., 138; Hebrews, 415, 

«421 

JAMES III. 1-13, Hebrews, 431 

_— 2-12, Hebrews, 417 

JAMES IV. 1, John ix., 375 

— 2, Psalm li., 393; Ephesians, 

: 141 

3 1m. Samuel, 347; Hebrews, 

365 

— 12, Matthew, 149 

JAMES V. 17, u. Samuel, 235 

JASON, Acts xiii., 135 

JEHOIADA, Genesis, 
Kings, 192 

c= and Joash, u. Kings, 13 

‘JEHONADAB, 1. Kings, 9 

_JEHOSHAPHAT, nu. Kings, 176 

—_— prayer by, 0. Kings, 170 

-— reform by, m1. Kings, 155 

‘JEHOVAH,’ Esther, 212; Psalms, 
115; Isaiah, 117 

— forsaking, Isaiah, 252 

— guides, Genesis, 173 

—— a libation to, Samuel, 141 


2 pleading, n. Kings, 37 


180; w. 





—— versus Judah, Isaiah, 1 
JEHOVAH-JIREH, Genesis, 165 
JEHOVAH-NISSI, Exodus, 72 
JEHOVAH-SHALOM, Deuteron- 


JEHU, u. Kings, 7 

JEPHTHAH, daughter of, Esther, 
13 

JEREMIAH, enemies of, Isaiah 
xlix., 322 

— persecution of, Isaiah xlix., 
361 


JEREMIAH a prisoner, Isaiah xlix., 
340 

—— roll of, burned, Isaiah xlix.,353 

JER. L., Isaiah xlix., 27 

JER. I. 9, Isaiah xlix., 245 

—— 11, Deuteronomy, 199; Isaiah 
xlix., 246 

— 12, John xv., 65 

13, Esther. 384; Psalms, 63 ; 
Tsaiah, 67; Isaiah xlix., 249; 
John, 313; Epistles of John, 47 

— 19, m Kings, 127; Isaiah 
xlix., 252; u. Timothy, 291 

—— 22, Epistles of John, 391 

—— 30, Exodus, 354; 1 Corinth- 
jans, 352; ou. Corinthians, 113 

—— 34, Romans, 30 

JER. IIT. 4, o. Samuel, 117 

—— 17, 1. Corinthians, 176 

—— 21-22, Isaiah xlix., 254 

—— 23, Isaiah xlix., 256 

JER. V. 31, Isaiah xlix., 257 

JER. VILLI. 11, Luke, 268 

JER. X. 16, Isaiah xlix., 268 

21, Isaiah xlix., 63 

JER. XIL 5, Isaiah xlix., 272 

JER. XIII. 23, Isaiah xlix., 274; 
Acts xiii., 298 ; Romans, 231 

JER. XIV. 7-9, Isaiah xlix., 281 

—— 8, Exodus, 275 

JER. XVII. 1, Isaiah xlix., 294 

—— 5, u. Timothy, 398 

—— 6-8, Isaiah xlix., 302 

—— 7, u. Timothy, 400 

— 1], t Corinthians, 195 

— 12, Isaiah xlix., 311 

— 13, Isaiah xlix., 311, 319 

JER. XX. 9, Isaiah xlix., 185; 
Acts, 258 

JER. XXII. 22, Philippians, 332 

JER. XXIII. 5, Ezekiel, 285 

JER. XXVIL. 18, 19, o. Kings, 230 

JER. XXVIIL. 13, Isaiah xlix., 322 








74 


JER. XXXI. 3, Mark ix., 289 

— 16-17, Matthew, 34 

— 33, Genesis, 122; Hebrews, 340 

—— 34, Exodus, 259 

—— 36, Isaiah xlix., 332 

— 37, Isaiah xlix., 336; Ezekiel, 
283 

JER. XXXII. 4, mn. Kings, 69 

JER. XXXII. 8, Isaiah xlix., 340 

— 15, Ezekiel, 285 

JER. XXXV. 16, Isaiah xlix., 351 

JER. XXXVI. 32, Isaiah xlix., 352 

JER. XXXVIL. 1, Isaiah xlix., 357 

—— 11-21, Isaiah xlix., 361 

JER. XXXIX. 1-10, Isaiah xlix., 
367 

—— 3, Isaiah xlix., 400 

—— 18, Isaiah xlix., 374 

JER. XLIV. 4, o=. Kings, 40; 
Isaiah xlix., 377 

JER. XLVIL. 6, 7, Isaiah, 380 

JER. XLIX. 23, John ix., 262 

JER. L. 34, Isaiah xlix., 385 

JER. LI. 59, Isaiah xlix., 399 

JER. LIL. 1-11, Isaiah xlix., 398 

—— 4-6, Isaiah xlix., 399 

—— ll, m. Kings, 69 

JERICHO, Genesis, 89 

— the siege of, Deuteronomy, 
132 

JEROBOAM, u. Samuel, 210; a. 
Kings, 121, 129 

—— political religion of, u. Samuel, 
224 

JEROBOAM IL, Ezekiel, 150, 157, 
162, 

JERUSALEM besieged, m. Kings, 
67 





fall of, Isaiah xlix., 367, 398; 
Luke xiii., 205 

— riverless, Isaiah, 206 

— situation of, Psalms, 329 

— the new, Epistles of John, 350 


JER. XXXI.—JESUS CHRIST 


JESHOUA, mw. Kings, 285 

JESHURDN, Isaiah, 298 

JESUITS, obedience of, t C€ 
inthians, 105 

JESUS, a common name, Matth 
ix., 18 

—— consider Him, nm. Timothy, 

JESUS CHRIST, absent 
present, John ix., 330 

—— —— the ascended, John 
105 

—— —— ascension of, m. Sam 
322; Luke xiii, 388; om. C 
inthians, 260 

—— —— at the bier, Luke, 14€ 
ians, 15 

—— —— at the door, Epis 
John, 302 

—— —— at a tomb, John, 94 

—— ——-atoning work of, 
xlix., 108 

—— —— authority of, Mark, 
John xv., 279 

—— —— baptism of, Matthew, 

——— before Caiaphas, 
xv., 230 

—— —— before Pilate, John 




















239 

—— —— birth of, Matthew, 7 

—— —— blessing children, 
ix., 70 

—— —— the boy, Luke, 62 

—— —— brotherhood of, a. T 
othy, 239 

—— —— calumniated, Luke, I 

—— —— captive, Mark ix., 2¢ 

—— —— and his captors, John 
219 

—— —— the centre of religi 
thought, Exodus, 48 

—— ——-certainties _ in, 
through, 1. Corinthians, 269 


JESUS CHRIST 


75 





JESUS CHRIST, charge of, to| JESUS CHRIST, His death and 


heralds, Matthew ix., 68 
—— —— charged with blasphemy, 
Matthew xviii., 290 
—— —— the chief church-worker, 
Matthew ix., 56 
—— —— claims of, Matthew, 409 ; 
Matthew xviii., 291, 371; Luke, 
123; John, 247 
— — cleansing the 
- John, 123 
— coming of, Ezekiel, 343 ; 
John ix., 383 
—— —— comings of, 1. Corinth- 
 jans, 262 
—— —— and common life, Luke, 
181 
—— —— condemning sin, Romans, 
—-130 
—— —— constraining love of, I. 
| Corinthians, 372 
————continuous work 
John xv., 274 
—— —— copies of, m. Corinthians, 
281 
—— ——and the Covenant, He- 
| brews, 266 
— —— Creator, John, 115 
4 creation in, Ephesians, 
| Al 
—— —— His Cross and ours, Mark, 
330; Luke, 271 
—— —— and His Cross, the centre 
_ of universe, Peter, 41 
— the Cross and Throne of, 
| John xv., 268 
—crowned, [Epistles of 
John, 313 
— crucifixion of, Matthew 
‘xXviii., 317; Mark ix., 128; Luke 
xili., 254; 1. Corinthians, 19 
— death of, and former 
generations, Luke, 292 


Temple, 








of, 














ours, Peter, 211 

His death for us, Mat- 
thew xviii, 80; Romans, 97, 
116, 121 














view of death of, Mat- 

thew xviii., 243; Luke xiii., 15 

our life, Philippians, 211 

—— — Deity of, John, 247 

—— —— departure of, John ix., 
352; John xv., 89 

detaining, Luke xiii., 342 

Divine, Matthew ix., 322 

—— —— dominion of, Isaiah xlix., 
117 

—— —— duty of, Isaiah, 25 

—— —— earthly work of, Acts, 
10 

—— —— enthroned, Matthew ix., 
312; Hebrews, 20, 76, 203 

the eternal leader, Exo- 














dus, 47 
—— the eternal manifesta- 
tion of God, Isaiah, 31 
—— — ever present, Hebrews. 
204 





exaltation of, ou. Cor- 
inthians, 260 








—— —— thefaceof God in, Psalms, 
189 

— faith in, Acts xiii., 308 

—— — and the Father, Luke, 
66; John ix., 103, 387; John 
xv., 160 


finished and unfinished 
work of, John xv., 268 

first coming of, John, 350 
—— flight of, into Egypt, 
Matthew, 29 

foes and friends of, Mark, 

















122 





for the sake of the Name 
of, Epistles of John, 61 


76 


JESUS CHRIST forgives, Matthew 
ix., 14 








foresaw His Cross, Mat- 

thew ix., 333 335; John ix., 392 

— the foundation, Isaiah, 
139 

—— —— friends of, John xv., 38 

the fulness of, John, 23 

the gift of, Romans, 228 ; 

mm. Timothy, 172 

His gift of Himself, Ro- 
mans, 191; uo. Timothy, 171 

—— —— gifts of the risen, Mat- 
thew xviii., 360; John ix., 340 

glorified, Isaiah xlix., 
202; Philippians, 248 

—— — is God, John ix., 254, 
293, 296 




















the ‘grace’ of, m. Cor- 
inthians, 28 

_ growth in grace of, Peter, 
235 

—— — hastening to the Cross, 
Matthew ix., 81; Luke, 295 

heroic, Mark ix., 82 

—— —— and His gospel, Romans, 35 

—— —— and Herod, Luke xiii., 14 

—— —— His view of His work, 














John, 370 

— humiliation of, um. Cor- 
inthians, 254 

a immortal youth by, 
Isaiah, 281 


—— ——“‘in the beginning,’ John, 1 
—— —— in the Gospels and Apo- 
calypse, Epistles of John, 170 

—— —— in prayer, Luke, 328 

the Incarnation and, 
Acts xiii., 74 

—— —— theindwelling, Ephesians, 
142 

—— —— intercession 
odus, 148 





by, Ex- 


JESUS CHRIST 






















JESUS CHRIST, Jehovah—An 
Isaiah xlix., 229; Peter, 117 
—— —— and John Baptist, 
13; John, 6 
——-— Joseph as type 
Genesis, 262 
—— —— and Joshua, Matthew, 
—— — the Joy-bringer, 
xlix., 193; John, 110 
—— —— kindred of, Mark, 12! 
——-—- the last beatitude 
Epistles of John, 380 | 
—— —— last invitation of, Epis' 
of John, 391 


—— —— and life’s question, 
xlix., 267 
—— — like us, u. Timothy, 
—— —— likeness to, Peter, 88 
—— —— ‘Little Whiles’ of, 
xv., 120 
— —— looks of, Mark, 215; 
xiii., 270 
— — looks at Peter, 
xiii., 270 
JESUS, CHRIST, LORD, 
names, Acts, 67; Acts xiii., I 
1. Corinthians, 1 
—— —— Lord of life and de 
John xv., 392; Acts, 232 
~—— —— Lord of spirits and 
Epistles of John, 232 
— — — love of the dep 
John ix., 170 
—— —— lowliness and majest; 
John xv., 223 
—— — lowly origin of, Job 
—— — loyalty to, nu. Samue 
101 
— —and lukewarm Ch 
Epistles of John, 293 
—— ——- ‘ madness’ of, 


JESUS CHRIST 77 





JESUS CHRIST, manhood crowned | JESUS CHRIST, as Guide, Exodus, 


in, m. Timothy, 212 
— —— manifestations of, in Old 
Testament, Deuteronomy, 124 

—— — love of, Ephesians, 163 

—— —— manner of, copied, Acts, 
288 

— —— mission of, Peter, 330 

—— — and Moses, John, 39 

—— —— must be confessed, Gene- 
sis, 179 

—— — must be detained, Luke 

xiii, 346 

— — ‘musts’ of, John, 171 

— — Nature’s Peace-bringer, 

_ Matthew, 412 

—— SOME TYPES OF, 
Hebrews, 303 

— —— as the Arm of the Lord, 
Isaiah xlix., 90 

—— —— as Author and Finisher, 

_ Hebrews, 173 

—— —— the Bread, Deuteronomy, 
16 

_— ——-as the Breaker, Esther, 

129; Ezekiel, 206; wm. Corinth- 
ians, 124 

— ——the Burden-bearer, 
Corinthians, 176 

— —— as Companion, Ezekiel, 
62; Epistles of John, 246 

—— —— the Corner-stone, Ephes- 

 ians, 118 


y 





im 


————as Deliverer, Romans, 
133 

— —— the Exemplar, Peter, 
107 


— — as Fire, Luke, 384 

— — as Food, Isaiah, 82 

— — as Forerunner, Genesis, 
310; John ix., 272 

—-—as Guest and Host, 
Epistles of John, 310 








330 

—— as Healer, Matthew, 388 - 
Mark, 35, 45, 52; Acts, 111; 
Luke, 260 

as Hiding-place, Isaiah, 





176 
—— — as Host, Esther, 142 
as Husband, Mark,78,134 
as Intercessor, Exodus, 
191; John xv., 188 
as Judge, Ezekiel, 345; 
John ix., 159; Acts xiii, 145; 
1. Corinthians, 81 
as King, Psalm li., 239; 
Matthew, 38; Matthew ix., 99; 
Matthew xviii, 89, 97, 200; 
Mark ix., 109; Luke xiii., 183, 
224; John ix., 125; John xyv., 
237; Acts, 256; Peter, 119, 308 
King of Glory, Epistles 
of John, 144 
King of Martyrs, He- 
brews, 216 
as Kinsman-Redeemer, 
Exodus, 282; Isaiah xlix.. 392 






































———as the Lamb, Exodus, 
40, 42; Psalms, 371; Epistles of 
John, 322 





—as Leader of the race. 
i Timothy, 230 

—— — as Life, Isaiah, 87 

— — as Light, Isaiah, 85: 
John, 319 

the Man for men, Isaiah, 

187; John 197 

as Manna, Exodus, 71 

JESUS CHRIST, SOME OFFICES 
OF: Messiah, Isaiah, 48, 57 

———the mighty Saviour, 
Isaiah xlix., 219 

—— —— the Obedient, Isaiah xlix., 
20 








78 


JESUS CHRIST, as the Object of 
faith, Genesis, 104, 116 

— — as Pattern, John, 331; 
Hebrews, 29 

— —— our Passover, Exodus, 
41; John xv., 277 

— —— the Peace-bringer, Mat- 
thew, 416 

— as Priest, Exodus, 146; 

Hebrews, 10, 72 

—— Prince of Life, Matthew 











as 

Author, Acts, 186 

the Prophet, Deuter- 
onomy, 17; Matthew ix., 193 

—— —— as Refuge, Esther, 220 

—— —— the Rest-giver, Matthew 
ix., 153 

— —— as Restorer, John, 141 

the Revealer, Esther, 50; 

John xv., 211 

as the sacrifice, Exodus, 

233; Hebrews, 77, 85 

as Saviour, John, 203 

——as Seeker, Matthew 
xvii, 27, 28 

— — as the Servant of the 
Lord, Isaiah xlix., 15-38; Matthew 
xvii., 71; Luke, 366; Acts, 
123, 165 

—— — Servant-Master, John ix., 
181 

—— —— as Shepherd, Psalms, 104, 
371; Isaiah xlix., 4; Matthew 
ix., 45; Matthew xviii, 26, 28; 
John ix., 24, 35, 40 

— ——as Sin-bearer, John, 
40 




















the Standard of Truth, 
Timothy, 30 

—-—the Suffering Servant, 
Isaiah xlix., 92 


JESUS CHRIST 











JESUS CHRIST our Teache 
li., 381; Matthew ix., 198; 
22; John, 143; Ephesians 

—— —as Victor, Epist 
John, 224 

—— —— the Way, Psalm li., 
John ix., 281 

—— —— as Wisdom, Esther, 
136 

—— —— the Witness. Philir 
370; Epistles of John, 115 — 





—— —— physical nature of, 
ix., 242 
—— —— and Pilate, Mark i 
Luke xiii., 296 








JESUS CHRIST 79 
ESUS CHRIST, prayers of, Isaiah | JESUS CHRIST seen in everything, 
xlix., 64 John xv., 360 
————prayer addressed to, —— the Session of, Hebrews, 
Philippians, 269 21 
— ——the praying, Luke, 328 ; | —— —— satisfaction in, Psalms, 
John ix., 321 252 





— —— preaching, Luke, 85, 95 
— —— pre-existence of, Epistles 
of John, 163 

present work of, Isaiah bsp Wy | 
xlix., 203; Mark ix., 319; John, 
306; John ix., 274; Acts, 12, 
89; Philippians, 336 

———— purpose of mission of, 


second coming of, Psalms, 
21; Philippians, 245 


seeks, John, 75; John 











self-revelation of, John, 
69, 162, 199; John ix., 285 

self-witness of, John, 365 
self-emptying of, m. Cor- 











Asaiah xlix., 16 inthians, 30 

—— —— relatives of, Mark, 138 —— —— sentenced, John xv., 244 
. remonstrances of, Acts | —— severity and gentleness 
xiii., 298 of, Matthew xviii., 116 





silence of, Matthew xviii., 
288, 312, 317 
slaves of, 1. Corinthians, 


—-—and rash discipleship, 
Matthew, 397 
—— results of departure of, 








(John i ix., 382 297 
— —— representatives of, Mark, | —— and Solomon compared, 
105 m. Samuel, 208; Matthew ix., 








— —— righteous anger of, Mark,| 197 
94 





Sonship of, Matthew ix., 
376, 384; Romans, 1 

—— —— speaks, John xv., 78; 
u. Timothy, 276 

the suffering, Matthew 


— the risen, answers Job’s 
question, Esther, 43 

—— Resurrection of, Acts, 
39; 1. Corinthians, 237; 1. Cor- 








inthians, 339 Tmjooe 

—— the risen, Luke xiii., |——- —— sufferings of, Isaiah xlix., 
336 22 

—risen with, Philippians, | —— supreme claims of, Isaiah, 
127, 134 68; Matthew, 365 


—risen and 
Epistles of John, 114 
— and the Sabbath, Mat- 


crowned, 





temptation of, Matthew, 
77; Luke, 79 
and Thomas, John xv., 








thew ix., 163 317 
—— sacrifices for, um. Cor- | ———— thwarted, Mark, 237 
inthians, 325 —— —— title on Cross of, John 
— and the Saducees, Genesis, xv., 259 
16 — the toiling, Mark, 162 


80 JESUS CHRIST—JOCHEBED 


' 
JESUS CHRIST, touch of, Matthew 


ix., 29; Mark, 50 


—— —— transfiguration of, Mat- 


thew ix., 343; Mark ix., 1-12 


—— —— the unchanging, Hebrews, 


285 


—— —— universality of, John ix., 


140 


— —— unrecorded saying of, 


Acts xiii., 193, 212 


—— —— unseen is seen, John ix., 











335 

————-upbraids neglect, Mat- 
thew ix., 146 

n= and the veil of sin, Isaiah, 
94 

— the wearied, John, 188 

— witness of, to Himself, 
Mark ix., 214 





379; Acts xiii., 257 


—— —— the work of, Peter, 251; 


Epistles of John, 324 
—— — worship of, Psalms, 323 


—— — yoke of, Isaiah xlix., 


329 
JEW, the wandering, Genesis, 20 
JEWS, as captives, 0. Kings, 280 





213 


—— birth of nation of, Exodus, 


118 
names of, Isaiah, 298 





—— Passover, witness of, Exodus, 


45 


JEWISH RITUAL, Exodus, 259 ; 


Hebrews, 306 


JEZEBEL, uo. Samuel, 234, 262, 


278 


JEZREEL, elders of, uo. Samuel, 


278 
JOAB, a. Samuel, 52, 73, 108 
JOANNA, Luke, 218 


witnesses for, Luke xiii., 


bargaining spirit of, Genesis, 




















JOASH, um. Kings, 184 
—— Elisha and, Genesis, 289 


JOB, Genesis, 136 

—— death of, Genesis, 181 

—— final word of, Esther, 64 — 

—— humility of, Isaiah, 33 

— as intercessor, Esther, 69 

—— Jesus answers question 
Esther, 43 

—— and sorrow, Esther, 30, 

—— Book of, Esther, 44 

JOBI. 21, Esther, 29 

JOB V. 17-27, Esther, 33 

—— 19, un. Timothy, 129 

—— 23, Deuteronomy, 209, 21 
Corinthians, 57 ; Hebrews, 

JOB VIII. 14, Esther, 40 

JOB IX. 4, Luke, 177 

JOB XL. 8, Ephesians, 160 

JOB XII. 10, m. Corinthians, 

JOB XIV. 4, Ephesians, 244 

—— 14, Exodus, 304; Esther, 
1. Corinthians, 274 

JOB XIX. 25, Exodus, 282 

JOB XX. 11, Esther, 149; 1 
inthians, 56 

—— 28, Exodus, 61 

JOB XXII. 21, Esther, 49; 
brews, 62; Peter, 183 

—— 25, Esther, 49 

—— 26-29, Esther, 53 

JOB XXIII. 3, Hebrews, 14, 

—— 6, Genesis, 226 

JOB XXXI. 24, Esther, 216 

JOB XXXVIIL 3, Esther, 67 

JOB XL. 7, Esther, 67 

JOB XLII. 1-10, Esther, 63 

— 5, Luke, 113; a. Corin 
318; Hebrews, 55 

— 6, Isaiah, 39 

JOCHEBED, Exodus, 12 


JOEL II.—JOHN II. 


JOEL II. 15, Isaiah xlix., 291 

— 28, Ephesians, 209 

— 29, Epistles of John, 329 

—— 32,1. Corinthians, 2, 9 

JOHN THE APOSTLE, Matthew 

--xviii., 241 ; Mark, 109; John xv., 

838 

nil ambition of, Epistles of John, 

151 

Wa and Andrew, John, 50 

character of, Peter, 

_ Epistles of John, 1 

—— Gospel of, John xiv., 189; 

John xv., 328 

—— appendix to Gospel of, John 

-_xv., 338 

iris 

—in Patmos, Genesis, 

Epistles of John, 145 

JOHN AND JAMES, Acts, 366, 

370 

— later history of, John xv., 394 

—— simple messages of, Peter, 261 

— ‘tarried,’ John xv., 396 

he practical effects of teaching 

of, Peter, 249 

OHN I. 1, Ezekiel, 302; John, 1; 
tm. Corinthians, 128, 254 

—2, Esther, 140; 

| xviii., 346; John, 1, 23 

3, Esther, 139; John, 

_ Epistles of John, 165 

4, Matthew, 89; John. 1; 

_ Ephesians, 287 ; Epistles of John, 

190 

5, John, 1; Epistles of John, 

136 

7, John, 1 

8, John, 1, 6; 

John, 180 


320 ; 


250 ; 


Matthew 












1; 


Epistles of 


81 


JOHN I. 10, John, 1; a. Corin- 
thians, 129 

— ll, John, 1 

—— 12, John, 1, 29; John ix., 1, 9 

— 14, Isaiah, 32; Luke, 43; 
John, 1, 14, 115; John ix., 196; 
John xv., 220; Acts xiii., 74; 
. Corinthians, 256; Philippians, 
310; uo. Timothy, 143, 161, 173; 
Peter, 184, 195 

—— 16, John, 23; Ephesians, 17, 
173 

18, John ix., 356; 1 Cor- 
inthians, 309; Philippians, 350 ; 
u. Timothy, 243; Epistles of 
John, 119, 192 

— 19, m. Samuel, 366 

—— 21, Philippians, 236 

—— 25, Hebrews, 300 

29, Exodus, 42, 199, 261; 
Isaiah xlix., 124; uo. Corinthians, 
176; Philippians, 242; uo. Tim- 
othy, 177, 267 ; Hebrews, 306 

—— 32, Matthew, 65 

—— 37, 39, John, 50 

—— 40, John, 62 

—— 41, John, 62; Hebrews, 384 

42, John, 62 

—— 43, John, 73 

—— 44, John, 85 

—— 45, Mark, 110; John, 85 

—— 46-49, John, 85 

—— 50, Psalms, 185; John, 98 

—— 5l, Genesis, 209; John, 98 

JOHN II. 1-4, John, 110 

—— 5, Ezekiel, 75; John, 110 

—— 6-18, John, 133 

— 19, Matthew ix., 328; John, 
133 











9, Exodus, 142; Esther, 78; | JOHN III., Philippians, 86; John, 
John, 1; uw. Corinthians, 70; 143 

Ephesians, 288; uu. Timothy, | —— 3, Philippians, 84, 209, 374 
278; Epistles of John, 85 | —— 7, Ephesians, 250 


j 








82 


JOHN IIT. 8, John, 154; Acts, 48 | JOHN V. 18, John, 245 


—— 11, Philippians, 373 

— 13, uo. Samuel, 324; John, 162 

—— 14, Exodus, 366; Esther, 
$79; Matthew ix., 334; John, 
162, 171; 1. Corinthians, 232; 
Peter, 195; Epistles of John, 118 

16, Deuteronomy, 161; Mat- 
thew xviii., 277; Luke xiii., 157; 
John, 180; Romans, 43, 194, 
220; wu Corinthians, 127; 
Ephesians, 21, 88, 104; Philip- 
pians, 313; Hebrews, 67; Peter, 
238, 334, 338 

—— 17, Ephesians, 100 

— 18, Acts xiii., 321 

— 19, Philippians, 327 

—— 21, Peter, 256 

—— 29, Matthew, 45 

—— 34, Epistles of John, 239 

JOHN IV. 6, John, 188 

— 7, John, 195 

— 10, Isaiah, 71; Matthew, 56; 
John, 204 

—— 13, Ephesians, 240 

— 14, John, 214; Ephesians, 
174; Epistles of John, 402 

—— 23, Psalms, 217 

—— 24, Epistles of John, 42 

—— 26, John, 195 

—— 32, John, 188 

—— 34, Isaiah xlix., 120; John, 189 

—— 37, Exodus, 10,11; uo. Kings, 
100; Acts xiii., 231 

—— 42, u. Timothy, 24; Epistles 
of John, 33 

— 48, John, 225 

— 54, John, 223 

JOHN V. 8, John, 235 

— 17, no. Samuel, 329; Matthew 
ix., 58; John, 242, 245; uo. Tim- 
othy, 308, 317, 325; Hebrews, 
25, 80 


JOHN UI.—JOHN VIL. 















— 19, John, 245; Phili 
269 

—— 20-23, John, 245 

—— 2%, Genesis, 95; John, 
Philippians, 258 

—— 25, Luke, 154; John, 
Ephesians, 136 

—— 26, John, 245; 
John, 164 

—— 27, John, 245 

—— 28, Ephesians, 136 

— 40, John xv., 103; 
pians, 159 

—— 44, Romans, 48 

JOHN VL 11, 12, John, 251 

— 19, 20, John, 269 

—— 27, u. Timothy, 333 

— 28, John, 280; 
106 

— 29, John, 280; 
106; Philippians, 182 

—— 34, Isaiah, 316 

—— 35, Isaiah, 73; Hebrews, 
Epistles of John, 400 

— 37, u. Samuel, 63 

—— 41, Epistles of John, 209 

—— 48, 49, John, 289 

— 60, John, 289; 1. Corin 
175; wu. Corinthians, 185 

—— 51, John, 259; 1. Corin 
232 

—— 52, t. Corinthians, 88 

—— 53, Ephesians, 83 

—— 55, Exodus, 71; John, 2 

—— 56, Isaiah, 73 

657, « Corinthians, 

Hebrews, 310 

68, Psalm li, 325; 
119 

— 69, Matthew, 372; 
ix., 379; John ix., 300 

JOHN VIL. 7, Romans, 297 








142; John, 310; John ix., 18; 
Ephesians, 210; wu. Timothy, 
277; Epistles of John, 398 

— 38, Ezekiel, 32; John, 310; 
Acts, 50; 1. Corinthians, 179, 296 

—— 5], John xv., 291 

JOHN VIII. 7, John xv., 176 

/—— 11, Exodus, 117 

— 12, Exodus, 267, 310; Psalm 
li., 47; Isaiah, 229; Luke xiii., 
264; John, 319 

— 29, Isaiah xlix., 33; Philip- 
pians, 292; 1. Timothy, 219, 245 

'—— 30, 31, John, 330 

—— 33, John, 341 

_—— 34, Exodus, 292; Isaiah, 231; 

John, 351; Peter, 221 

— 35, John, 350 

— 36, Isaiah, 47; 
1. Corinthians, 112; 
inthians, 193 

— 42, John, 363; John ix., 13; 

a, Corinthians, 31, 127 

bea 44, Romans, 154 

— 46, John xv., 271; uw. Cor- 

inthians, 133; Epistles of John, 
316 

— 47, Epistles of John, 22, 25 

— 48, John, 374 

— 58, mu. Corinthians, 255 

JOHN IX. 3, John ix., 5, 13 





Acts, 171; 
m. Cor- 





JOHN VII.—JOHN XI. 83 
JOHN VII. 17, Ephesians, 300; | JOHN IX. 15, John ix., 37, 39 
Hebrews, 62 —— 17, John ix., 39 
— 33, 34, John, 299 —— 26, Philippians, 323 
— 37, Exodus, 39, 266; Isaiah, | —— 30, Mark, 299 
66; Isaiah xlix., 136; Matthew, | —— 39, John ix., 12; Epistles of 


John, 295 

—— 4], Isaiah xlix., 34 

JOHN X. 4, Psalms, 129; Ezekiel, 
213 

—— 8, Matthew ix., 47 

—— 10, Ephesians, 110; Peter, 243 

—— 1], Genesis, 282 

— 14, nu. Timothy, 72 

—— 15, Isaiah xlix., 111 

—— 16, Matthew ix., 49; Matthew, 
xviii., 22; John, 40; Romans, 396 

— 18, John xv., 225; 1 Cor- 
inthians, 63 

—— 28, Deuteronomy, 174 

—— 29, Ephesians, 41 

— 30, Matthew xviii., 292; m. 
Corinthians, 267 

JOHN XI. 5, John ix., 74 

—— 6, Luke xiii., 134; John ix, 
74; Acts, 377 

—— 11, Philippians, 191 

—— 21, Genesis, 219; 
238 

—— 25, Esther, 43; Ephesians, 91 

—— 26, John, 81; Philippians, 198 

—— 27, John ix., 81 

—— 28, John ix., 278 

—— 30-32, John ix., 91 

—— 33, John ix., 91, 99 

— 34-39, John ix., 91 

— 40, John ix., 91,103; uo. Tim- 


Psalm li, 


— 4, Deuteronomy, 156; u.| othy, 342 
Samuel, 188 ; Esther, 305; Psalms, | —— 41, John ix., 91, 103 
56; Mark, 169, 171; John ix., | —— 42-44, John ix., 91, 98 


1,14; Romans, 308 
— 5, John ix. 
— 6, John, 11 
— 7, John, 11 


—— 45, John, 224; John ix., 91 
—— 49, John ix., 107 

— 60, John ix., 107 

—— 57, John ix., 120 


84 


JOHN XII. 1-11, John ix., 119 

— 12-23, John ix., 125 

—— 24, Matthew, 28; Luke xiii., 
19, 262; 
Philippians, 136; Hebrews, 34; 
Peter, 262 

— 26, John, 125; Hebrews, 32 

— 32, Exodus, 366; wu. Kings, 
300; Isaiah, 63; Matthew xviii., 
337; Mark ix., 147; Luke xiii., 
309; John, 164; John ix., 140; 
u. Timothy, 52; Peter, 47 

—— 34, Matthew xviii., 337; John 
ix., 150 

—— 36, John, 14 

— 41, Isaiah, 25; Isaiah xlix., 
125 

— 43, John xii., 43; Romans, 
48; Ephesians, 323 

— 47, John, 368 

JOHN XIIL. 1, John ix., 170 

—— 3-5, John ix., 180 

—— 10, m. Corinthians, 5 

— 16, Matthew ix., 84 

—— 17, Philippians, 85 

—— 25, Matthew, xviii., 232 

— 27, John ix., 190 

—— 30, John ix., 199 

— 31, John ix., 199 

—— 32, John ix., 199 

— 33, John, 299; John ix., 210, 
217 

— 34, John ix., 226; wm. Cor- 
inthians, 383 

—— 35, John ix., 226 

— 37, John ix., 235; Peter, 109 

—— 38, John ix., 235, 243 

JOHN XIV. 1, Psalm li., 148; 
Matthew ix., 377; John ix., 253 ; 
Peter, 122 

—— 2, Exodus, 52; Deuteronomy, 
360; Psalms, 143; John ix., 
263, 272, 357; John xv., 44; 


JOHN XII.—JOHN XV. 


John ix., 125, 2875. 


Hebrews, 75, 202; 
John, 214 

JOHN XIV. 3, John ix., 2 
Corinthians, 393; 
275 

—— 6, Ezekiel, 293; Psalm li., 1 
John ix., 281; Acts, 269; 
xiii, 313; 1 Corinthians, 
Philippians, 84; Hebrews, 
Epistles of John, 140 

—— 8, Exodus, 197; Isaiah, 
John ix., 291 

—— 9, Exodus, 197; Mark 
20; John ix., 291; John ; 
213; 1. Corinthians, 271; E 
sians, 265; Philippians, 
mu. Timothy, 144, 162; Heb 
61; Peter, 336; Epis 
John, 119 

12, John ix., 301; Epis’ 
John, 230 

—— 15, Psalm li., 291; John 
312; 1. Corinthians, 218, 364 
Corinthians, 6, 71; Ephe 
227; u. Timothy, 134; Heb 
38, 388; Peter, 224, 264 

—— 16, 17, John ix., 320 

—— 18, John ix., 330 

19, Genesis, 333 ; Exodus, 
John, ix. 320; uo. Timothy, ¢ 

—— 22, John ix., 320; & @ 
inthians, 51 

—— 23, John ix., 350; Ephesii 
177; Epistles of John, 38, 31 

—— 27, Matthew xviii., 369; ¢ 
ix., 372; Hebrews, 330; Epis 
of John, 126 

—— 28, 29, John ix., 382 

— 30, 31, John, 382 

JOHN XV. 1, Exodus, 146; 
ix.,35; John xv., 1; om. Time 
355 

—— 2, uo. Kings, 250; John 



























JOHN XV.—JOHN XVIII. 


85 





JOHN XV. 4, Esther, 113; Isaiah,| JOHN XVI. 25-27, John xv., 


| 293; Markix., 136; John xv.,1; 150 
Acts, 144; 1. Corinthians, 284; | —— 28, John xv., 159; um. Cor- 
Ephesians, 230, 291; Peter, 347; |. inthians, 263 
| Epistles of John, 37 —— 29-31, John xv., 168 
— 5, Ezekiel, 140; John xv., | —— 32, Ezekiel, 144 
| 10; Ephesians, 16, 112, 139 — 33, Deuteronomy, 98; 1. 


6, John xv., 10 
7, Genesis, 142; 
108; John xv., 10 
10, John xv., 20 
- 1], o. Kings, 309; John xv., 
20; Romans, 352 
13, Matthew ix., 138; John 
xv., 28 
14, Matthew ix., 138; John 
xv., 38; Hebrews, 428 
15, Genesis, 107, 138 ; Exodus, 
' 189; Matthew ix., 138; John 
xv., 38; Hebrews, 425 
16, 17, John xv., 38 
18, John xv., 49; 
inthians, 354 
19, 20, John xv., 49; Romans, 
| 297 
21-25, John xv., 58 
- 26, 27, Esther, 187 ; John xv., 
67 
f(OHN XVI. 1-6, John xv., 78 
7, um. Samuel, 329; Luke 
xiii., 360; John xv., 89; 1. Cor- 
 inthians, 229; Epistles of John, 


114 
ae John xv., 89; wu. Cor- 
inthians, 61; Philippians, 328 


— 9, Mark, 233; John xv., 99 
—— 12, Matthew, 91 

— 10-12, John xv., 110 

—— 13, John xv., 110; Ephe- 
sians, 263; Philippians, 285 
— 14-19, John xv., 120 

—— 20-22, John xv., 131 

— 23, 24, John xv., 140 


Mark ix., 


u. Cor- 





Samuel, 275; wu. Kings, 136; 
Matthew ix., 33; John xv., 179; 
Romans, 304; Ephesians, 343; 
‘Philippians, 46, 297; Epistles of 
John, 1, 138, 315 

JOHN XVII. 1, 2, John av., 
187 

—— 3, Esther, 53; John xv., 187; 
u. Corinthians, 337; Ephesians, 
23; Peter, 189 

— 4, Matthew, 366; John xyv., 
187; 1. Corinthians, 267 

— 5, John xv., 187; Epistles of 
John, 318 

— 6-11, John xv., 187 

12, John, xv. 187; Epistles 

of John, 265 

13-16, John xv., 187, 197 

—— 17, 18, 1. Corinthians, 34 

—— 19, John xv., 187 

— 20, John xv., 203 

— 21, John xv., 203; m. Cor- 
inthians, 247; Peter, 340 

22, John xv., 203; 
sians, 75 

—— 24, Exodus, 147; Esther, 140; 
Isaiah xlix., 206; John ix., 209; 
John xv., 203, 206 

—— 25, John xv., 203, 206 

—— 26, John xv., 203, 210; 
Ephesians, 226; Epistles of John, 
122 

JOHN XVIII. 6, John xv., 219 

— 7, John xv., 219; Epistles of 
John, 93 

— 8, 9, John xv., 219 











Ephe- 


86 


JOHN XVIII. 11, Philippians, 283 ; 
Peter, 115 

— 15-27, John xv., 230 

—— 28-33, John xv., 236 

34, John xv., 236; 
pians, 372 

—— 35, 36, John xv., 236 

—— 37, John xv., 236; Acts xiii., 
262; wu. Corinthians, 31; Philip- 
pians, 372; Epistles of John, 116 

—— 40, Isaiah xlix., 94; John xv., 
236 

JOHN XIX. 1-10, John xv., 244 

—— 11, Isaiah xlix., 24; John 
xv., 244; 

—— 12-14, John xv., 244 

— 15, Deuteronomy, 298; John 
xv., 244 

—— 16, John xv., 244 

— 17-21, John xv., 252 

—— 22, Isaiah, 326; Isaiah xlix., 
300; John xv., 252; wm. Cor- 
inthians, 289; Ephesians, 202; 
i. Timothy, 387 ; Hebrews, 232 

—— 23-29, John xv., 252 

— 30, John xv., 252, 268; Acta 
xiii, 201; 1. Corinthians, 33; 
Philippians, 219 

—— 36-41, John xv., 277, 297 

JOHN XxX. 1, John xv., 300 

—— 2, John xv., 300; Epistles of 
John, 127 

—— 3-16, John xv., 300 

— 17, Genesis, 293; John xv., 
300; Hebrews, 204 

—— 18, John xv., 300 

—— 19, Matthew xviii., 360 

— 21, John xv., 308; Peter, 343 

—— 22, nm. Samuel, 320; John xv., 
308 ; Epistles of John, 243 

—— 23, Luke xiii., 376; John xv., 
308 

— 26, John xv., 317 





Philip- 


JOHN XVIII.—I. JOHN IL. 

















JOHN XX. 28, Genesis, 299 — 

—— 29, John xv., 301 

—— 30, John xv., 327 

—— 31, Psalm li., 327; John 
327 

JOHN XXI. 2, John xv., 338 

—— 3, John, 14; Romans, 3§ 

—— 4, John xv., 338 

—— 7, Luke, 110; John ix., If 
John xv., 358 

—— 9, Matthew ix., 298 

—— 15-22, John xv., 372; 
113 

—— 18, 19, John xv., 382 

—— 21, John xv., 391 

22, John xv., 391; x C€ 

inthians, 64, 207, 209 1 

I. JOHN. I. 1, Philippians, 376 

— 2, Epistles of John, 118 

—— 3, Epistles of John, 45 

— 5, Psalms, 125; u. Timo 
60; Peter, 252, 247, 
Epistles of John, 43, 176 

-—— 6, Isaiah, 197 

— 7, Romans, 321; Philipp 
172; Hebrews, 326; Peter, 3 

—— 9, Deuteronomy, 2, 4; 
li., 226; Philippians, 335; 
Timothy, 63; Peter, 
313 

I. JOHN IZ. 2, m. Corinthians, 1 
Epistles of John, 71, 261 

—— 6, Peter, 247 

—— 7, Hebrews, 292; Peter, 
261 

—— 8, Luke xiii. 
261 

—— 10, Epistles of John, 25 

—— 14, Peter, 269 

—— 15, u. Timothy, 117 

— 17, Genesis, 92; Deut 
onomy, 272, 299; 1. Kings, 2] 
Esther, 297; Peter, 279 











264; 





I. JOHN II.—JOHN THE BAPTIST 87 
'I. JOHN II. 20, Acts, 48; 1 Cor- | I. JOHN IV. 19, Genesis, 268; John 
| inthians, 280 xv., 45; 1. Corinthians, 190, 376; 
— 21, 1. Corinthians, 181 Ephesians, 37, 387; Philippians, 
— 28, Peter, 308 285, 307; Peter, 355 
— 29, Peter, 295 —— 20, Ephesians, 276 
L JOHN III. 1, Peter, 289; | —— 21, Philippians, 307 
Epistles of John, 321 I. JOHN V. 1, Ephesians, 130; 








i—— 2, Exodus, 158; Psalm li., Peter, 295; Epistles of John, 14 
| $84; Isaiah, 31; Mark ix., 3, Epistles of John, 2 

| 267; w. Corinthians, 33, 398;|——4, Deuteronomy, 348; John 
Ephesians, 62, 194; u. Timothy, xv., 187; Ephesians, 364, 367; 
| 226, 272; Peter, 310, 317, 329, Peter, 276; Epistles of John, 1; 
/ 347; Epistles of John, 214, m. Timothy, 246; Epistles of 

















253 John, 344 

— 3, Peter, 310 10, uo. Timothy, 7 

— 4, Peter, 313 ——12, wm. Corinthians, 329; 
'——7, Exodus, 368; Psalm li, Philippians, 16 

258; Isaiah, 109; Peter, 320 —— 14, Genesis, 128; um. Samuel, 

'—— 8, Epistles of John, 29 42 : 
—— 9, Peter, 313 — 16, Epistles of John, 17 
— 10, Romans, 154 —— 18, Epistles of John, 12 

— 11, nu. Timothy, 181 —— 19, u. Kings, 256: Epistles of 
_— 12, Genesis, 15 John, 21, 38 

—— 15, Deuteronomy, 171 —— 20, Epistles of John, 29, 39 
—— 17, m1. Samuel, 397; Romans, | —— 21, Mark, 300; Epistles of 

283 John, 39 

—— 23, Matthew xviii., 66 II. JOHN, 3, Epistles of John, 47 
I. JOHN IV. 4, Epistles of John, | III. JOHN, 2, Epistles of John, 54 
| 29 —— 7, Epistles of John, 61 
—— 7, Peter, 295 — 8, Epistles of John, 70 
: ——8, Ephesians, 21, 173; wu. | —— 12, Epistles of John, 79 

_ Timothy, 242; Peter, 103, 320,| JOHN THE BAPTIST, Matthew 
357; Epistles of John, 42 ix., 121; John, 6 





character of, Luke, 8 
coming of, Luke, 3 
— 12, Isaiah, 31 — and Jesus, Matthew, 45, 
—— 16, Psalms, 20; Isaiah, 189,| 48; Mark, 13; Luke, 14, 158, 161 
197; 1. Corinthians, 190; | —— and Herod, Mark, 247, 
_ Ephesians, 39; Peter, 360 256; Luke xiii., 287 
pe aa 17, Matthew xviii, 166; }— martyrdom of, Mat- 
John xv., 110; Acts xiii., 148; thew ix., 262; Mark, 256 
1. Corinthians, 267; Peter, 338 —— —— preaching of, Matthew, 
— 18, Peter, 347 38; Luke, 69 


—— 10,1. Corinthians, 270; Peter, | —— 
: 329 














' 


88 


JOHN THE BAPTIST, witness of, 
to Jesus, Luke, 73 

JONAH, Acts xiii., 353 

—— as prophet, Ezekiel, 178 

—— mission of, Ezekiel, 179, 182, 
184 

—— the story of, Ezekiel, 184 

JONAH L 1-17, Ezekiel-Malachi, 
177 

JONAH II. 5, a. Timothy, 56 

— 8, Ezekiel-Malachi, 184 

JONAH III. 1-10, Ezekiel-Malachi, 
189 

— 10, m. Corinthians, 15 

JONATHAN and David, Deuter- 
onomy, 354 

the pattern of friendship, 
Deuteronomy, 254 

—son of, David and, Samuel, 
42 

JORDAN divided, Deuteronomy, 
110 

—— Israelites crossing, 
37 

JOSEPH, death of, Genesis, 305 

—— diplomacy of, 272 

— faith of, Genesis, 311 

—— industry of, Genesis, 251 

— love of, for father, Genesis, 
266 





Genesis, 


—— and Mordecai, Esther, 27 
——pardoner and preserver, 
Genesis, 253 


—— Prime Minister, Genesis, 253 

— tested, Genesis, 249; Psalm 
li., 232 

—a type of Christ, Genesis, 
262 

— visions and trials of, Genesis, 
234 

—— youth of, Genesis, 240 

JOSEPH AND MARY, Matthew, 
7 


JOHN THE BAPTIST—JOSHUA XXII. 



















JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, I 
xlix., 107; Mark ix., 211 


—— aged, Deuteronomy, 158 
—— campaigns of, Acts, 189 
— commission of, Deuteror 

87 
—— and Jesus, Matthew, 12 
JOSHUA L. 1-11, Exodus, 

Deuteronomy, 87; Ezekiel, 
—— 7, 8, Deuteronomy, 91 
JOSHUA III. 4, Deuteronom: 


108, 115 
JOSHUA V. 10, Deuteronomy, 
— 14, Deuteronomy, 

Psalm li., 241; Acts, 188 
JOSHUA VL. 10, 11, Deute: 

132 
—— 25, Deuteronomy, 140 
—— 35, o. Samuel, 389 
JOSHUA VIL. 1-12, Deute: 

145; Isaiah xlix., 69 
—— 17, o. Samuel, 351 
—— 26, Isaiah, 124 
JOSHUA VIIL 30-35, 

onomy, 183 
JOSHUA X. 12, Deuteronomy, 
JOSHUA XIIL. 1-6, Deuteronc 


JOSHUA XX. 1-9, Deuterono 
168 

JOSHUA XXI. 43-45, 
onomy, 175 

JOSHUA XXIL 1-9, Deute: 
175 





JOSHUA XXTII.—JUDGE 


89 





JOSHUA XXIII. 7, 12, Deuter- 
onomy, 193 

— 14, u. Kings, 317 

JOSHUA XXIV. 15, a. Kings, 46; 
1. Corinthians, 111 

—— 19-28, Deuteronomy, 183 

— 28-31, Deuteronomy, 195 

JOSIAH, a. Kings, 61, 257 

—the newly-found law and, 

a, Kings, 262 

JOTHAM, nu. Kings, 207 

JOURNEY, life as a, Exodus, 84, 
275; Isaiah, 229 

JOY, abiding, Psalms, 156; Isaiah, 
134 

—— in believing, Peter, 34 

-—the Resurrection and, 1. Cor- 

inthians, 236 

— Christ’s, and ours, John xv., 27 

— the consecration of, Exodus, 

261 

—divine and devout, Ezekiel, 

«245 

ber om duty of, Genesis, 285; a. 

| Kings, 384 

_— earthly and heavenly, Esther, 

187 

'—— and faith, John ix., 382 

—— faith brings, Acts, 221 

/— fulness of, John xv., 148 

— godless, Isaiah, 133 

— and hope, Romans, 274 

'—— in God, Psalms, 243 

-— of the Lord, um. Kings, 379; 
Matthew xviii., 261 

—— and peace, Romans, 344 

— pertect, Isaiah, 234 

—— of self-surrender, u. Timothy, 
202 

— sorrow turned into, John xv., 
131 

— a test, Esther, 55 

—— through faith, Peter, 36 





JOY of ‘ that Day,’ John xv., 150 

JOY-BRINGER, the, wo. Kings, 
301; Isaiah, 191; John, 110 

JUBILEE year, Jewish, Exodus, 
269 

—— the royal, Samuel, 131 

sermon on, Acts xiii., 272 

JUDAH, fall of its monarchy, 
m. Kings, 69, 269 

son of Jacob, Genesis, 261 

JUDAS ISCARIOT, Mark, 111; 
Mark ix., 182, 204 

—— Christ pleading with, Matthew 
Xvili., 221, 234, 270 

despair of, Matthew xviii., 299 

dismissal of, John ix., 190 

selfishness of, John ix., 120 

——, ‘ not Iscariot,’ John ix., 250 

JUDH, 3, Genesis, 125; Epistles of 
John, 87 

—— 20, Ephesians, 120; Hpistles 
of John, 97 

— 21, u. Kings, 398; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 258; Ephesians, 121 ; 
u. Timothy, 108 

24, Deuteronomy, 291; 
Esther, 106; Psalms, 85: Mat- 
thew xviii., 243; wu. Timothy, 
248; Epistles of John, 105 

—— 25, Epistles of John, 105 

JUDGE, Christ as, Ezekiel, 345; 
Matthew, 371; Matthew ix., 331; 
Acts xiii., 145 

faith’s access to the, Hebrews 
247 

—a, in Israel, Deuteronomy, 
204,292 

—— Pilate as, Luke xiii., 300 

the old, and young king, 
Deuteronomy, 299 

JUDGE AND FATHER, Peter, 69 

JUDGE AND LIFE-GIVER, John, 
245 


























90 


JUDGEMENT BAR—KING 





JUDGEMENT BAR, 
Hebrews, 248 

JUDGEMENT, book of, Isaiah, 321 

—— certainty of, Ezekiel, 155 

— Christians in the, Peter, 344 


at the, 


—a Christian’s 
Philippians, 328 

—— exercise of, Hebrews, 195 

—— Day of, Psalms, 59; Matthew 
ix., 147; John ix., 159; John 
xv., 109; Romans, 307; mu. Tim- 
othy, 25 

JUDGEMENT on daily life, Exodus, 
131 

—— the final, and liberty, Romans, 
324 

—— future, Isaiah, 194 

—— guidance in, Psalms, 122 

—— in suspense, Acts, 200 

—of drunkards and mockers, 
Isaiah, 125 

—— Christlike, Matthew ix., 41 

—— pictures of the, Ezekiel, 174 

—— Resurrectionand, Acts xiii., 145 

—— signs of future, Matthew xviii., 
162 

—— three tribunals of, 1. Corinth- 
jans, 74 


standard of, 


JUDGEMENT, throne of, 
xviii., 213 
—— the universal, Matthew 
213 
—— vision of day of, Ezekiel, 
JUDGES IL. 1-10, Deu 
192 
—— 10, Genesis, 188 
JUDGES IZ. 11-23, Deu 
196 
JUDGES V. 16, Deuteronomy, 
—— 20, Deuteronomy, 209 ; 
349 
—— 31, Deuteronomy, 217 


—— 37, Deuteronomy, 233 

JUDGES VII. 1-8, Deutero 
236 

—— 13-23, Deuteronomy, 244 

JUDGES XVL. 20, Exodus, 204 

—— 21-31, Deuteronomy, 250 

JUDGING, Matthew, 324 

JUSTICE, administration of, 
Kings, 168 

—— retributive, Exodus, 185 

JUSTIFICATION by faith, J 
285 


K 
KEBLE, John, quoted, Genesis, | KEY of life’s puzzle, the, 


216, 323 

KEEPERS, Christ keeps the, 
Epistles of John, 265 

—of the vineyard, Matthew 
xviii., 107 

KEEPING and kept, Esther, 116; 
Epistles of John, 259 

KENOSIS, the doctrine of the, 
u. Corinthians, 30 


108 


KINDNESS, David's, 1. Samu 


—— divine, Isaiah xlix., 128 

—— instinct of, Exodus, 16 

melted by, Luke xiii., 151 

KINDRED, Christ’s, Mark, 1 

KING and law-giver, Isaiah, 2 

—— after man’s heart, the, 
onomy, 307 





KING—I. KINGS VIIiI. 


91 





KING blessing his people, Samuel, 
175 
— a boy as, m1. Kings, 256 
— charge of the, to ambassadors, 
| Matthew ix., 94 
— Christ as, Psalm li., 239, 308 ; 
Isaiah, 46; Matthew, 19-89; 
| Mark ix., 219 
— Christ as heavenly, Hebrews, 
/ 21 
ar Christ’s requirements 
| Matthew xviii., 47 
—and debtors, Matthew xviii., 
39 
—— farewell 
xviii, 139 
| first ministers of the, 
ks, 89 
—— glory of the, Philippians, 344 
—— herald of, Matthew, 37 
—— highway of the, Isaiah, 224; 
Matthew ix., 298 
—— hymn for Jewish, Psalms, 307 
—— the ideal, uo. Samuel, 128, 
131 
in exile, the, Matthew, 28 
—— in his beauty, the, Psalms, 
307; Matthew ix., 343 
—— make us a, Deuteronomy, 291 
—— a new kind of, Matthew xviii., 
97; Luke xiii., 183; John ix., 
(125 
— of glory, the, Epistles of John, 
«144 
—— of men and friend of world, 
Ezekiel-Malachi, 309 
—— on His judgement throne, 
Matthew xviii., 213 
the shepherd and, Deuter- 
ray, 332; Psalms, 95 


| the victory of, Matthew, 76 
; and temple-builder, Samuel, 
30 


as, 


of the, Matthew 


Mat- 





























KING, watching for the, Matthew 
Xviii., 166 

KINGDOM and the calling, the 
Ephesians, 194 

— Christ’s, Mark ix., 114 

entering the, Luke xiii., 138 

epitaph of a, m. Kings, 33 

greatest in the, Matthew ix., 
110; Luke, 161 

— how to split a, Samuel, 216 

—— in and outside the, Mark ix,, 
148 

Israel’s divided, mu. Samuel, 

210 

law of precedence in the, 
Matthew xviii., 1 

— laws of, Luke, 126 

—— of Christ, Philippians, 146 

—— of God, Matthew, 244 

— of heaven, Christians as citi- 
zens of, m. Corinthians, 238 

—— parables of, Matthew 
201-261, 234 

image of Chaldean, Ezekiel, 

















ix., 





50 
KINGS as reformers, 11. Kings, 234 
and the King, Psalms, 114 
—— porters of the, m. Kings, 74 
and priests, Epistles of John, 
135 
——the record of two, Samuel, 
229 
I. KINGS I. 28-39, o. Samuel, 148 
I. KINGS IIT. .5-15, o. Samuel, 154 
I. KINGS IV. 25-34, mo. Samuel, 
161; Ezekiel, 287 
I. KINGS V. 1-12. nm. Samuel, 166 
—— 20, 1. Corinthians, 8 
I. KINGS VI. 1, o. Samuel, 167 
—— 7, u. Samuel, 172 
I. KINGS VIII. 27, Ephesians, 176 
—— 54-63, 0. Samuel, 175 
— 59, o. Samuel, 181 








92 


I. KINGS IX. 1-9, mo. Samuel, 189 

—— 22, mn. Samuel, 217 

L KINGS X. 1-13, m. Samuel, 195 

—— 8, u. Samuel, 241 

IL. KINGS XI. 4-13, m. Samuel, 201 

—— 26, m. Samuel, 217 

—— 26-43, m. Samuel, 208 

I. KINGS XII. 1-17, o. Samuel, 
216 

—— 25-33, m. Samuel, 222 

L KINGS XIV. 21, mo. Samuel, 219 

L KINGS XV. 33, 0. Kings, 137 

IL. KINGS XVI. 23-33, m1: Samuel, 
229 

I. KINGS XVII. 1-16, m. Samuel, 
233 

L KINGS XVIII. 12, m. Samuel, 
249 

—— 20, no. Timothy, 283 

—— 25-39, m. Samuel, 253 

I. KINGS XIX. 1-18, mo. Samuel, 
261 

—— 4, Romans, 21 

— 9, Deuteronomy, 377; 
brews, 321 

—— 18, 1. Corinthians, 97 

I. KINGS XX. 11, m. Samuel, 268 

—— 40, u. Timothy, 42, 207 

I. KINGS XXI. 1-16, o. Timothy, 
278 

—— 20, uo. Samuel, 285; uo. Cor- 
inthians, 335 

I. KINGS XXII. 3, o. Samuel, 
296; Ephesians, 13 

— 7, 8, u. Samuel, 305 

Il. KINGS II. 1-11, m. Samuel, 315 

—— ll, mu. Samuel, 322 

— 12, uo. Samuel, 333 

—— 13-22, m. Samuel, 340 

IL. KINGS III. 2, mo. Samuel, 377 

II. KINGS IV. 6, m. Samuel, 345 

—— 25-37, uo. Samuel, 352 

—— 34, Isaiah xlix., 68 


He- 


I. KINGS IX.—KNOW 



















II. KINGS V. 10, 11, m. Samuel, 35 

—— 13, Isaiah xlix., 151 

—— 25, Philippians, 118 

IL KINGS VL. 3-18, 1. Samuel, 37 

—— 16, Philippians, 64 

—— 17, u. Samuel, 338; Hebre 
245 

II. KINGS VIL. 1-16, m. Samuel,38: 

—— 9, m. Samuel, 390 

Il. KINGS VIL 13, Matthe 
XViii., 237 

—— 14, um. Samuel, 333 

—— 9-15, m. Kings, 1 

Il. KINGS X. 16, mo. Timothy 
186 

—— 18-31, m. Kings, 6 

Il. KINGS XI. 1-16, n. Kings, 13 

IL. KINGS XII, 4-15, m. Kings, 1¢ 

—— 6-9, m. Kings, 24, 193, 195 

Il. KINGS XU. 13, mo. Samu 
231 

—— 16, u. Kings, 24 

II. KINGS XVIL. 6-18, 1. Kings, 

—— 25-41, m. Kings, 292 

—— 33, m. Kings, 40 

Il. KINGS XVIII. 5, 6, mo. Kings, 
47 

—— 19, Psalm li., 35 

II. KINGS XIX. 3, 20-22, m. King 
54; wo. Corinthians, 38 

28-37, m. Kings, 54; Philip- 
pians, 149 

Il. KINGS XXL, m. Kings, 253 

II. KINGS XXII. 8-20, mo. Kings, 
60 

Il. KINGS XXII. 30, nm. Kings, € 

II. KINGS XXV., Isaiah xlix., 398 

KINSMAN-REDEEMER, 
Exodus, 280; Isaiah, 385 

KNOCKING, man’s, Matthew, 33: 

KNOCKINGS of Christ at man’ 
door, Epistles of John, 302 

‘KNOW,’ Ephesians, 152 














KNOWLEDGE—LAW 


93 





_ KNOWLEDGE by love, Ephesians, 


153 
— Christ imparts, John ix., 341 
— the Christian’s, Hpistles of 
John, 12-39, 41 
defective spiritual, 
217 
— necessary Christian, Timothy, 
34 





Isaiah, 


LABAN, Genesis, 214, 223 

LACK, always is a, Psalms, 216 

LAITY, priests and, u. Kings, 159, 
193 

LAKH, mirage or? Isaiah, 221 

— and river, the, John, 180 

LAMB, Christ as the, Exodus, 42 ; 
Isaiah xlix., 104 

— Christ as the Passover, John 
Xv., 277 

— Christ as the slain, Epistles of 
John, 322 

—— the emblem of, Exodus, 40 

— of God, the, Psalms, 372 

— the sacrificial, Genesis, 168 

— seven eyes of the, Epistles of 
John, 322 

LAMENESS, Christ heals, Acts, 
111 

LAMENT, Christ’s, over our faith- 

_ lessness, Mark ix., 13 

LAMENTATIONS of Jeremiah, 1. 
Kings, 67; Isaiah xlix., 368 

LAMENTATIONS I. 12, o. Cor- 
inthians, 343 

LAMENTATIONS III. 26, Exodus, 
Fal 

— 33, Esther, 369; Ezekiel, 125 

LAMP as symbol, Luke, 362 


KNOWLEDGE of Godis experimen- 
tal, Psalm li., 206; Hebrews, 54 

of the unknowable, Epistles of 

John, 76 

and peace, Esther, 49 

— unconscious, John ix., 282 

KNOX, John, Genesis, 98 

KORAH, sons of, Psalms, 327: 
Psalm li., 123, 146 








L 


LAMP and bushel, Matthew, 188; 
Mark, 148 

LAMPS, dying, Matthew xviii., 181 

and lights, John, 6 

LAMPSTAND, the golden, Exodus, 
134 

LAND, stewardship of the, Exodus, 
270 

—— tenure of, in Egypt, Genesis, 
259 

LAODICEA, Epistles of John, 
283 

— counsels to, Epistles of John, 
293 

LAPSES from faith, Acts xiii., 24 

LAST WARNING, the, Exodus, 
33 

LAST WORDS, of prophecy, Eze- 
kiel-Malachi, 342 

——of the Old and New 
Testaments, Ezekiel-Malachi, 363 

LAUGHTER, hollow, Esther, 187 

‘LAW,’ Romans, 123 

LAW and forgiveness, Epistles of 
John, 385 

—and grace, Luke xiii, 124; 
John, 33 

—— Josiah and book of, 1. Kings 
262 














LAW—LIES 


LAW and lawlessness, Isaiah xlix., 
323 

—— new form of old, Matthew, 199 

—— of love, Matthew, 214 

—of precedence in kingdom, 
Matthew xviii., 1 

the perfect, Hebrews, 388 

and its doers, Hebrews, 





386 
—— purpose of the, Romans, 46 
—— reading the, nm. Kings, 371 
—— the spirit of, Deuteronomy, 24 
—— synonyms for, u. Samuel, 179 
LAW-GIVER, the, Isaiah, 213 
— Christ as, Matthew, 200 
—— of the kingdom, Luke, 126 
LAWSUIT, God’s, Isaiah, 245 
LAYMEN, holy work by, Acts, 32 
LAZARUS, Dives and, Luke xiii., 
101 
— of Bethany, John ix., 74, 97, 
99 


























LEV. VIII., Exodus, 231 
LEV. X. 1-11, Exodus, 240 
LEV. XIV. 1-7, Exodus, 247 
LEV. XVI. 1-19, Exodus, 248 
— 8, Exodus, 256 

—— 22, Exodus, 254 

LEV. XIX. 2, Philippians, 171 


LEV. XXV. 23, Exodus, 269 
25, Isaiah xlix., 386 
—— 39, Isaiah xlix., 388 





‘LEAD us not into temptation,’ | —— 42, Exodus, 279 
Matthew, 277 —— 48, Exodus, 280 
LEADER, the new, Deuteronomy, | LEV. XXVL. 1, Hebrews, 46 
87 —— 10, Exodus, 284 
LEAVEN, Matthew ix., 244 —— 13, Exodus, 291 
LEAVES, symbolism of, Isaiah | LEVITY in crises, Acts xiii, 167 
xlix., 308 | LIBATION to Jehovah, a, 
LEMUEL, Esther, 295 141 


| 
LEPER, cleansing of a, Exodus, | LIBERALITY, Christian, mm. 








247; Matthew, 374 inthians, 21-36 
healing of a, Mark, 40 —— divine, Hebrews, 366 
LEPERS as messengers, u. Samuel, methodical, m. Kings, 19 





389 | LIBERTY, charter of 
ungrateful, Luke xiii., 127 | Acts xiii., 83 
LESSON, Christ our, Ephesians, —— defined, m. Kings, 124 
224 — and licence, John, 156 
—— of memory, the, Deuteronomy, | —— limits of, Romans, 323 
4 — self-bound, 1. Corinthians, 
—— of experience, m. Corinthians, | LIES, Gehazi’s, m. Samuel, 375 
109 —— of the temptress, m. 


—— of a feast, Luke xiii., 23 285 


LIFE 95 





*LIFE,’ Philippians, 15 

— abundant, Acts xiii., 61 

—— as a journcy, Isaiah, 229 

— as a stewardship, Luke xiii, 
175 

as a voyage, Acts xiii., 98 

— the book of, Exodus, 176 

—— changes of, Exodus, 289 





_ ——as contest, race, and steward- 


ship, 0. Timothy, 105 


| —— Christ as, Isaiah, 87; John 





LIFE in Christ, with Christ, Philip- 
pians, 218 

in God, Psalms, 247 

—— its object, John, 53 

lost and found, Matthew ix., 
102 

— man’s future, Luke xiii., 330 

meaning of human, Deuter- 

onomy, 43; Esther, 386 

names in Book of, Philippians, 














11 











ix., 287 new, in Christ, Isaiah, 222 
—common and hallowed, Ro- not hid, Psalm li., 292 

mans, 361 novelty and sameness of, 
— crowned, Epistles of John, 196 Esther, 309 
—— daily offered to God, Exodus, | —— of faith, Genesis, 73 

128 Paul’s thoughts of, Acts xiii., 


—— darkened by sin, Isaiah, 323 

— the death which gives, Mark 
ix., 228 

—— and death compared, um. Cor- 
inthians, 220 

—— the end of human, Psalms, 55 

— epochs in, Esther, 228 

— eternal, contents of, Acts xiii., 
53 

—— the festal, 1. Corinthians, 83 

— from the Ark, Samuel, 14 

— a gloomy view of, Esther, 318 

— the gospel gift of, 1. Corinth- 
ians, 219 

—— guide for, Esther, 240 

—— hard, dry, dangerous, Isaiah, 
177 

—— hid, Psalms, 292 

— human, as discipline, Deuter- 
onomy, 215 

—the ideal devout, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 238 


_ — ideal Christian, m. Timothy, 


150 
— in Canaan, Genesis, 84 
— in Christ, Psalm li., 46 





195 

—— a pilgrimage, Genesis, 70, 71, 
75, 335 

Prince of, Matthew xviii, 
350 

—— a puzzle and its key, Psalm li., 
108 

—— the river of, Ezekiel-Malachi, 
32 

—— ruled by worship, Ezekiel, 216 

satisfied with, Genesis, 181 

short and long, Genesis, 281 

a struggle, Psalms, 214 

—— ‘times’ and experiences of, 
ui. Kings, 106 

tired of, Genesis, 184 

a transfigured, Romans, 234 

—— true aim of, a. Timothy, 45 

—— two restrospects of one, Gene- 
sis, 279 

—— a voyage, John, 269, 279 

warring queens over, Romans, 
105 

—— the water of, Epistles of John, 
398 

—— weariness of, Esther, 383 


























LIFE, what it may be made, Esther, 
53 

—— witness of Christian, Exodus, 
138 

LIFE-GIVER and Judge, John, 245 

LIGHT, Christ as, Isaiah, 296; 
John, 165, 323 

—— Christians as, Esther, 
Matthew, 190; Mark, 154 

— churches and ministers as, 
Epistles of John, 175, 177 

—- effects of, John ix., 23 

—— at eventide, u. Timothy, 95 

—— the fruit of, Ephesians, 286 

— God is, Peter, 248 

—— hid in, Psalms, 186 

—— and lamps, John, 6 

of world, Christ as the, Isaiah, 
85; John, 319 

—— or fire? Isaiah, 55 

—— and peace, Luke, 38 

reveals, Ezekiel, 8 

—— springing of the great, Mat- 
thew, 86 

versus darkness, Acts xiii., 347; 
Ephesians, 284, 303 

—— walking in the, Peter, 253, 
254 

—— what children of, should be, 
Ephesians, 277 

LIKENESS, Christian’s, to Christ, 
Peter, 339, 355 

the family, Peter, 61 

—to God, the perfect man’s, 
Epistles of John, 378 

LILY as emblem, Ezekiel, 137 

LIMITS of liberty, Romans, 323 ; 
Corinthians, 164 

LIONS, Daniel and the, Ezekiel, 68, 
76 

—— faith stopping the mouths of, 
Ezekiel-Malachi, 75 

— in Palestine, Psalms, 214 


108 ; 

































LIPS, a watch on the door of, E 
brews, 431 

LISTENING to Christ, m. 
othy, 282 

LITERATURE, impure, Exodus, 
112 

‘LITTLE ONES,’ Christ’s, 
thew, 18 

LITTLE THINGS, weighty, E 
279 

‘LITTLE WHILES,’ Christ’s, Job 
xv., 120 

LIVING DEAD, the, Luke xiii., 

in Christ, Philippians, 218 

LIVING ONE who became dea¢ 
Epistles of John, 162 

LODGER, sorrow a, Psalms, 156 

LONELINESS of Christ, Mark i 
90; Luke xiii., 231 

LONGEVITY, Esther, 38, 97 

LONGFELLOW quoted, Genesi 
239 

LONGING for God, Psalm 
80 

—— the look of, Psalm li., 336 

—— Paul’s, Romans, 46 

‘LOOKING to the hills,’ Psalm I 
335 

LOOKS, Christ’s, Mark, 215 ; 
xiii., 270 

LORD, arm of the, Isaiah, 88 

—— the charge of the soldier of th 
Deuteronomy, 91 

— charge and gift of the risen, 
Matthew xviii., 360; John xv. 
308 

— of the churches, Epistles ¢ 
John, 144 

— Elijah standing before 
Samuel, 240 

— of Hosts, Deuteronomy, 2 
346; Psalms, 116, 342 

—— the joy of the, m. Kings, 379 





LORD—LOVE 


_ *LORD,’ name of, Luke, 58; Acts, 
er 77 
_ — of peace, Philippians, 288 
=— of tho spirits and stars, 
Epistles of John, 232 
—— servant of the, Acts, 120 
—— the servant as his, Peter, 338 
— the, a tower, Esther, 211 
LORD’S DAY observance, Matthew 
ix., 163; Luke xiii., 1 
/_ — — work on the, Luke xiii., 
25 
_LORD’S HOST, the captain of the, 
Deuteronomy, 123 
LORD’S PRAYER, petitions of the, 
Matthew, 233-297 
—— — structure of, Matthew, 
228 





Paul’s use of the, m. Tim- 

othy, 125 

Peter and the, Peter, 67 

LORD’S SUPPER, the, Psalms, 89 ; 
Isaiah, 91; Matthew xviii., 225, 
232, 243, 252; Mark ix., 175; 
Luke xiii., 211 

—— —— our altar and the, He- 
brews, 311 

—— —— Christ’s teaching on the, 
John, 295 

—— —— a family meal, Luke xiii., 
355; Acts, 86 








——— and Jewish Covenant, 
Exodus, 125 

—— — our Passover, John xv., 
277 


= ____ the, a prophecy, Luke 
xiii., 213 





_ — — the, a sign, Ephesians, 


128 

—— —— the, as symbol and rite, 
1. Corinthians, 168; Ephesians, 
206 

_ LOSING and winning, Hebrews, 99 


Q 





LOSS by faithfulness, m. Kings, 
365 

—— by postponement, Esther, 234 

—— of all, mo. Corinthians, 321 

—— of God’s gifts, John, 268 

self-inflicted, Ezekiel, 188 

and restoration of Eden, 
Genesis, 10 

LOT and Abram, Genesis, 70 

danger and deliverance of, 

Genesis, 143 

the man of sense, Genesis, 87 

—— wife of, Genesis, 150 

LOVE, abiding in, John xv., 20 

beseeching, 1. Corinthians, 380 

—— brings peace, Psalm li., 334 

—— builds up, 1. Corinthians, 125 

— that calls us sons, Peter, 289 

— Christ asks for, John xv., 376 

Christ’s present, Epistles of 

John, 127 

Christ’s love begets, Timothy, 























12 

—— obligation of Christian, John 
xv., 29, 36 

—— sufficiency of Christian, John, 
XV., 32 

pattern of Christian, John xv., 





33 

commanded, John ix., 226 

constraining, 1. Corinthians, 

371 

defence of, Matthew xviii., 

221 

delays of, John ix., 74 

—— discovering ruin, Ezekiel, 123 

—— Divine, persistent, Isaiah, 
333 

















unceasing, Ezekiel, 102 

— the end of law, Philippians, 
299 

and fear, 

Peter, 347 





mu. Kings, 370; 


98 


LOVE, flowers from root of, Ro- 
mans, 283 

follows trust, Psalms, 21 

—— and forgiveness, Luke, 198 

for hate, Deuteronomy, 361 

LOVE, GOD’S, is the foundation, 
Deuteronomy, 51 

entreating, Isaiah, 122 

unchangeable, Isaiah xlix., 
334; Romans, 210 

—— —— unspeakable, m. Corinth- 
ians, 50 

—— of the departing Christ, John 
ix., 170 

—— of disciples, Christ’s, John ix., 
176 

—— issupreme, Deuteronomy, 219; 
Psalm li., 104 

— God is, Peter, 248 

that can hate, Romans, 261 

—— and hope, Romans, 93 

—— individualising, Mark ix., 293 

inexhaustible, Isaiah xlix., 336 

and its fruit, Philippians, 155 

—— keeping ourselves in, Epistles 
of John, 97 

—— knowledge by, Ephesians, 153 

— the lake of divine, John, 180 

— last pleading of, Matthew 
xviii., 270 

— the law of, Matthew, 214 

—— and loving-kindness, Psalms, 
229 

—— the measure of, Ephesians, 162 

— as motive, John ix., 315; 
Ephesians, 381 

— and obedience, John ix., 312 

— omnipresent, Romans, 217 

—— paradox of, Ephesians, 162 

—— permanence of, 1. Corinthians, 
186 

— persistence of thwarted, Mat- 
thew xviii., 29 























LOVE—LUKE 























LOVE, pitying, Ephesians, 87 

—— prodigality of censured, John 
ix., 119 

—— punishment of lack of, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 263 

—— question of, Mark ix., 107 

—and remorse, Deuteronomy, 
367 

—— and retribution, Psalm li., 224 

and righteousness, 
123; Isaiah, 198 

— sees Christ, John xv., 366 

—— sent the son, u. Corinthiar 
127 

—— the swift decay of, Exodus, 177 

— to man condemns lovele 
ness to God, Isaiah xlix., 351 

—— triumph of, over sin, Mark ix., 
284; Romans, 209 

—— is the ultimate, Peter, 356 





—— universality of God’s, Rom 
56 

— unknowable and 0 
Ephesians, 151 


victorious, Romans, 201, 209 
—— warns, Isaiah xlix., 355 
LOVE TO CHRIST, passionate, m1. 
Kings, 94 
—— ——as motive, u. Timothy, 
53 
LOVER of souls, Christ as, Romar 
208 
‘LOVEST thou Me?’ John xyv., 
372 
LOVING call to reunion, m. Kings, 
238 
LOYALTY, vows of, Samuel, 89 
LUKE, ST., u. Timothy, 114 
—— the physician, Matthew, 386 
voyage of, Acts xiii., 348, 36 
characteristics of gospel by, 
Luke, 1, 47, 77, 126, 138, 146, 217, 
237, 271, 328, 335; Luke xiii., 30) 











LUKE I.—LUKE IX. 


LUKE I. 5-16, Luke, 1 

—— ]5, Luke, 1, 8 

— 16-17, Ezekiel, 362; Luke, 1 

— 17, m1. Samuel, 285 

—— 35, Mark ix., 7 

—— 46-55, Luke, 17 

—— 67-77, Luke, 24 

—— 74, Deuteronomy, 24 

— 78, Luke, 24, 30; Philippians, 
286 

— 79, Luke, 24, 30 

— 80, Luke, 24 

LUKE II. 8-15, Luke, 40 

—— 16, Luke, 40, 47 

—— 17-20, Luke, 40 

— 29, 30, Luke, 55 

—— 34, Exodus, 55; um. Samuel, 
29; Esther, 155; 1. Corinthians, 
19 

—— 49, Mark, 169; Luke, 62 

LUKE III. 1-14, Luke, 69 

—— 15-16, Luke, 73 

—— 16, Exodus, 21; Luke, 73 

—— 17-22, Luke, 73 

—— 21-22, Luke, 335 

LUKE IV. 1-13, Luke, 78 

— 18, Isaiah xlix., 191; 
thew, 125 

— 21, Luke, 85 

—— 33-44, Luke, 95 

LUKE YV. 4, Luke, 102 

— 8, uo. Samuel, 68; Ezekiel, 
149; Matthew, 422; Luke, 110; 
John xv., 350; Philippians, 
153 

—— 17-26, Luke, 120 

—— 39, Exodus, 289 

LUKE VI. 12, Luke, 334 

— 20-31, Luke, 126 

— 36, Psalm li., 265 

— 40, Matthew ix., 84; Peter, 
135 

— 41-43, Luke, 131 


Mat- 


99 


LUKE VI. 43, Isaiah xlix., 310; 
Matthew ix., 177; Luke, 131 

44.46, Luke, 131 

—— 46, Luke, 131; Ephesians, 297 

—— 47-49, Luke, 131 

LUKE VII. 4, Luke, 137; Ephes- 
jans, 194 

-—— 6, 7, Luke, 137 

—— 9, Ezekiel, 181 

— 13-15, Luke, 146 

—— 18-27, Luke, 156 

—— 28, Luke, 156, 161 

— 30, Luke, 170 

— 34, Luke, 178 

—— 41, Matthew, 232; Luke, 188 

— 42, u. Samuel, 368; Luke, 
188 

— 43, Luke, 188 

—— 47, Luke, 198 

—— 50, Luke, 210 

LUKE VIII. 2, 3, Luke, 217 

—— 4-13, Luke, 229 

—— 14, Luke, 229, 236 

— 15, Luke, 229 

18, Matthew ix., 220; 

Corinthians, 49, 385 

43-47, Luke, 242 

— 48, Ezekiel, 113; Luke, 242 

— 50, Luke, 236 

— 10, Luke, 254 

LUKE IX. 1, Luke, 310 

— 1], Luke, 254, 260 

— 12-17, Luke, 254 

—— 18, Luke, 271, 334 

—— 19-27, Luke, 271 

—— 29, Luke, 277, 335 

—— 30, Luke, 286 

— 31, Luke, 286; 1. Corinthians, 
172 

—— 35, Hebrews, 26 

—— 5l, Luke, 295; Luke xiii., 138; 
Hebrews, 353 

— 568, Exodus, 82 








mw 





100 


LUKE X. 1-6, Luke, 310 

— 7, 0. Samuel, 370; Luke, 310 

—— 8-11, Luke, 311 

— 16, u. Timothy, 278 

— 17, Matthew ix., 352; Luke, 
310 

— 18 Mark ix., 303; Luke, 310 

—— 19, Luke, 310; Romans, 389 

—— 20, Isaiah xlix., 319; Luke, 
310; Ephesians, 267; Philip- 
pians, 15 

—— 25-37, Luke, 315 

—— 41, John xv., 182 

LUKE XI., Matthew ix., 2 

— Il, Luke, 321, 328 

—— 2, Luke, 321; Peter, 119 

— 3-4, Luke, 321 

— 5-8, Luke, 321; Luke xiii, 
132 

—— 8, Genesis, 129, 132; 
321 

—— 9-12, Luke, 321 

— 13, Luke, 321; Acts, 59 

— 15, Matthew ix., 41 

— 20, Matthew, 244 

— 22, Acts iii., 179 

—— 25, Philippians, 45 

— 26, John, 244 

LUKE XILZ. 11, John, 377 

— 13-21, Luke, 337 

—— 20, Genesis, 55; m1. Kings, 223; 
Psalms, 26; Isaiah xlix., 262; 
Luke xiii., 83 

— 22-23, Luke, 337, 342 

24-28, Luke, 342 

— 29, Luke, 342, 349 

—— 30, Luke, 342; Epistles ‘of 
John, 59 

— 31, Luke, 342 

—— 32, Romans, 196 

— 35, Matthew xviii., 189; Luke, 
328; Peter, 59 

—— 36, Luke, 328 


Luke, 





‘LUKE XIL 37, Luke, 366, 


LUKE X.—LUKE XVL 










John xv., 357 
— 43, 44, Luke, 373 
—— 45, Peter, 205 
—— 47, mu. Samuel, 29 
—— 49, Matthew, 52; Luke, 38 
— 50, John ix, 197; nu Cc 
inthians, 359 
LUKE XII. 10-17, Luke xiii., 1 
—— 22-24, Luke xiii., 8 
— 25, Matthew, 342; 
xiii., 8 
—— 26-30, Luke xiii., 8 
—— 32-33, Luke xiii., 14 
—— 34, 1. Corinthians, 384 
LUKE XIV. 1-8, Luke xiii., 23 
— 9, Luke, 186; Luke 
23 
—— 10-14, Luke xiii., 23 
—— 15-18, Luke xiii., 28 
—— 23, Philippians, 151 
—— 28, Luke xiii., 28 
—— 29, 1. Corinthians, 221 
— 30, u. Corinthians, 
Ephesians, 54 
— 31, uo. Samuel, 274 
— 33, Luke xiii., 47; m. 
344 
LUKE XV. 1, Deuteronomy, 142 
— 4, Matthew xviii, 29; Luke 
xiii., 49 
—— 8, Luke xiii., 49 
— ll, Isaiah, 3; Luke xiii., 
59 
— 12, Luke xiii., 59; om. Timotl 
40 
—— 13, Luke xiii., 59 
—— 14, Luke, 188; Luke xiii., 59 
—— 15-24, Luke xiii., 59 
—— 22-23, Luke xiii., 59, 65 
—— 29, Mark ix., 292 
LUKE XVI. 8, Luke xiii, 
Philippians, 199 


LUKE XVI.—LUKE XXII. 


LUKE XVI. 10, Luke xiii., 83; 
Romans, 245; Peter, 169 


» —— 11, Luke xiii., 83 


_ — 12, Luke xiii., 83, 92; 


Ro- 
mans, 284 

—— 13, u. Corinthians, 72 

— 19-23, Luke xiii., 101 


. — 24, Psalms, 300; Luke xiii, 


101; Peter, 282 

—— 95, Luke xiii., 101, 107 

— 26-31, Luke xiii., 101 

— 33, Luke xiii., 236 

LUKE XVII. 5, Ephesians, 385 

—— 9-10, Luke xiii., 119 

— 11-19, Luke xiii., 127 

—— 20, mu. Samuel, 173 

LUKE XVIII. 1-6, Luke xiii., 131 

— 7, Luke xiii., 131; Hebrews, 
253 

—— 8, Mark ix., 151; Luke xiii., 
131 

— 9-10, Luke xiii., 131 

— ll, Luke xiii., 131; uo. Cor- 
inthians, 11 

— 12, Luke xiii., 131 

— 13, Isaiah, 196; Luke xiii., 
131; Epistles of John, 104 

— 14, Luke xiii., 131 

— 15-23, Luke xiii., 138 

— 24, Esther, 213; Luke xiii., 
138 ° 

— 25-28, Luke xiii., 138 

— 29, Luke xiii., 138; Hebrews, 
198 

— 30, Luke xiii., 138 

— 40-41, Luke xiii., 144 

LUKE XIX. 1, Luke xiii., 151 

— 7, Epistles of John, 310 


_— 14, Psalms, 15 
 — 16, Luke xiii., 163 


- 





17, Peter, 211; 
John, 202 
18, Luke xiii., 163 


Epistles of 





101 


LUKE XIX. 17-19, Luke xiii., 173 

—— 27, 1. Corinthians, 306 

—— 37-41, Luke xiii., 183 

—— 42, Psalms, 313; Luke xiii., 
183 

—— 43, Luke xiii., 183 

—— 44, Luke xiii., 183; om. Tim- 
othy, 280 

45-48, Luke xiii., 183 

LUKE XX. 9-16, Luke xiii., 190 

17, Genesis, 303; Luke xiii., 
190 

— 18-19, Luke xiii., 190 

—— 24, Luke xiii., 195 

LUKE XXI. 19, Matthew ix., 79; 
Matthew xviii., 148; Hebrews, 
105 

— 20-36, Luke xiii., 204 

LUKE XXII. 7-15, Luke xiii., 211 

16, Luke xiii, 211; Ephes- 

ians, 130 

17-18, Luke xiii., 211 

— 19, Exodus, 45; Luke xiii, 
211 

—— 20, Luke xiii., 211; Hebrews, 
60 

—— 24-25, Luke xiii., 217 

—— 25-26, Luke xiii., 224 

—— 26, Luke xiii., 217; Epistles 
of John, 173, 176 

—— 27-28, Luke xiii., 217 

—— 28, Luke xiii., 231 

29, Luke xiii., 217; Epistles 

of John, 153, 161 

29-30, Ephesians, 130 

—— 30, Luke xiii., 217; Epistles 
of John, 225 

— 31, Mark ix., 196; Luke xiii., 
217 

— 32, Luke xiii., 240 

—— 32-34, Luke xiii., 217 

— 35, Deuteronomy, 395; Luke 
xiii., 217 




















102 





LUKE XXII. 36, Matthew ix., 68; 
Luke xiii., 217 

—— 37, Luke xiii., 217 

— 39-41, Luke xiii., 247 

— 42, Genesis, 127; Luke xiii., 
247; Philippians, 47 

— 43-53, Luke xiii., 247 

— 53, Luke xiii., 254 

—— 64-61, Luke xiii., 264 

— 61, Luke xiii., 245, 270 

—— 62-71, Luke xiii., 264 

LUKE XXIII. 1-8, Luke xiii., 279 

—— 9, Luke xiii., 279, 286 

—— 10-12, Luke xiii., 279 

— 13-21, Luke xiii., 296 

—— 28, Hebrews, 224 

—— 30, Psalms, 156 

— 33, Luke xiii., 301 

—— 34, Deuteronomy, 370; Luke 
xiii., 301; Acts, 233; Romans, 
285 

— 35-40, Luke xiii., 301 

—— 41, Isaiah xlix., 35; 
xiii., 301 

— 42, Matthew, 253; Luke xiii., 
301 

— 43, Luke xiii., 301; Romans, 
170; Peter, 210 

— 44-45, Luke xiii., 306 


Luke 


LUKE XXII.—LYSTRA 


LUKE XXIV. 25, Luke xiii., 335 
Peter, 45 

— 26, Luke xiii., 335 

— 28, Genesis, 227; Luke 
342 

—— 29, Luke xiii., 342 

— 30-31, Luke xiii., 348 

—— 34, Matthew ix., 275; Luke 
xiii., 362 

—— 36-38, Luke xiii., 372 

— 39, Luke xiii, 372; P 
212 

—— 40-46, Luke xiii., 372 

—— 47, Exodus, 261; Luke xiii, 
372 

— 48, Luke xiii., 372, 379 

— 49, Luke xiii., 372, 379 ; Ephes- 
ians, 139 

—— 50, Luke xiii., 372, 388 

— 5l, Samuel, 322; Luke, 47; 
Luke xiii., 372, 388 

—— 52-53, Luke xiii., 372 

LUKEWARMNESS, Epistles of 
John, 285, 293 

LUTHER, quoted, Genesis, 139, 
294 

—a stone on the cairn, Acts 


ee 


—— in training, Exodus, 17 


— 46, Luke xiii., 306; John xv., | LUXURY, Christ and, Luke, 183 


164 


LUKE XXIV. 1-4, Luke xiii., 318 | 


— 5-6, Luke xiii., 318, 323 

— 7-11, Luke xiii., 318 

— 12, Luke xiii., 318, 322 

— 13, 20, Luke xiii., 335 

—— 21, Luke xiii., 335; John ix., 
391 

—— 22-24, Luke xiii., 335 


—— corrupting, Ezekiel, 166 

—— and earnestness, Romans, 378, 
383 

LYING and oaths, Matthew, 209 

unjustifiable, Deuteronomy, 
359 

‘LYING VANITIES,’ Ezekiel 
Malachi, 184 

LYSTRA, Apostles at, Acts iii., 67 





Waa 
= | 


MACEDONIA—MAN 


103 





MACEDONIA, the man of, Acts, 
114 

MAGI, the, Matthew, 19 

MAGISTRATES, function of civil, 
Acts xiii., 165 

— a mirror for, 1. Kings, 165 

MAGNET, the universal, John ix., 
140 

MAGNIFICAT, the, Luke, 17 


M 


MAMRE, Genesis, 113 

MAN, as he is, Esther, 274 

as in Christ, Esther, 276 

as in heaven, Esther, 278 

an autobiography, Isaiah, 320 
—— becomes good, how, Acts, 343 
blind, gradual healing of, 
Mark, 318 

chief end of, Genesis, 186 

















MAHANAIM, the two camps, | —— Christ the exalted, Mark ix., 
Genesis, 214; ou. Samuel, 109, 362 
335, 380 —— Christ the perfect, Hebrews, 14 
MAIDENS, the waiting, Matthew | —— Christ the hope of, Isaiah, 186 
Xviii., 175 —— the climax of creation, Genesis, 


MAKING OF A PROPHET, Isaiah, 
36 

MALACHI, Luke, 36; Ezekiel, 323, 
328, 342 

MALACHTI I. 6, 7, Ezekiel-Malachi, 
323 

— 8, Ezekiel, 328 

MAL. II. 12-14, Ezekiel, 337 

MAL. III. 1-6, Ezekiel, 342 

— 2, u. Kings, 40; Mark ix., 
118 

—— 3, John, 130 

—— 7-16, Ezekiel-Malachi, 354. 357 

—— 17, Isaiah xlix., 270; Ezekiel, 
857; John xv., 335; Hebrews, 
52 

—— 18, Ezekiel, 357 

MAL. IV. 1, Ezekiel, 357 

—— 2, Psalms, 163; Ezekiel, 357 

—— 3-6, Ezekiel, 357 

— 5, Ezekiel-Malachi, 357 

— 6, Ezekiel, 363 

— 17, Deuteronomy, 35 

MALICE, Jewish, Acts xiii., 70 

MALTA, Paul in, Acts xiii., 371 








4 





continuity of the race of, 
Exodus, 7 

deepest need of, Hebrews, 63 
entire, in future life, Ezekiel, 








92 
— of faith, Genesis, 82 
his gift to God, Hebrews, 50 
—— gluttonous, Luke, 178 
— God’s true treasure in, Deuter- 
onomy, 29 
—— God’s ownership of, Deuter- 
onomy, 32; Luke xiii., 197 
— immortality of, Genesis, 189 
and God, in the Decalogue (i.), 
Exodus, 97 
and man, in the Decalogue (ii.), 
Exodus, 107 
mortal promises for, Psalm li., 
210 











| —— mortality of the race of, 


Exodus, 6 

—— the new, Ephesians, 247 

—— plans for reforming, Matthew 
ix., 185 


104 


MAN, sad condition of, Isaiah xlix., 
342 

the Son of, John ix., 150 

the, that stopped Jesus, Luke 
xili., 144 

— thou art the, Samuel, 55 

—— tripartite nature of, Luke xiii., 
333 . 

— what is a good? Acts, 343 

—crown of, and of God, 
Isaiah, 136 

—— dominion of, Genesis, 29 

— faults of a good, Acts xiii., 91 

—— guide of blind, Isaiah, 295 

— passions of, and God’s pur- 
pose, Genesis, 240 

—share of, in God’s rest, um. 
Timothy, 323 

— true treasure of, from God, 
Psalms, 30 

— ways of, and God’s ways, 
Isaiah xlix., 152 

MANASSEH, sin and repentance of, 
u. Kings, 251 

MANCHESTER and Capernaum, 
Matthew ix., 138 

MANHOOD, Christ’s perfect, um. 
Timothy, 244 

—— crowned in Jesus, u. Timothy, 
212 

MANIFESTERS of God, 1 Cor- 
inthians, 50 

MANKIND, solidarity of, Exodus, 
103 








MANNA, lessons of the, Exodus, | —— 16-17, Mark, 139; m 
66; Psalms, 218; John, 289 inthians, 18 

— revelation by the, Exodus, 69 | —— 18-20, Mark, 139 

— a test, Exodus, 66 —— 21, Mark, 148 

MANNER, Christ’s, Acts, 288 —— 24, Matthew ix., 220 

MANSIONS, many, John ix., 263 —— 25, u. Corinthians, 81 

‘MANY’ and ‘one,’ Romans, 245|—— 28, uu. Corinthians, 


MARAH, Exodus, 64 
MARANATHA, 1. Corinthians, 260 










MARCHING ORDERS, 
xlix., 78 

MARCUS, my son, Peter, 161 

MARK, ST., Acts xiii.,17; m. 
othy, 114; Peter, 161 

—— faults of, Acts xiii., 92 

—— features of gospel of, 
24, 47, 50, 158, 160, 164, 1 
229, 266, 319, 331; Mark ix., 
94 

MARK TI. 1, Mark, 1, 13 

—— 2-7, Mark, 13 

—— 8, Mark, 13; mu. Cori 
215 

—— 9-11, Mark, 13 

—— 21-34, Mark, 22 

35, Luke, 332 

—— 40, Mark, 39 

—— 41, Mark, 39, 50 

—— 42, Mark, 39 

MARK ILI. 1-12, Mark, 61 

—— 13-18, Mark, 70 

—— 19, Mark, 70, 75 

—— 20-22, Mark, 70 

23-28, Mark, 87 

MARK III. 1-4, Mark, 87 

—— 5, Mark, 87, 94, 214 

—— 6-20, Mark, 105 

—— 21-30, Mark, 112 

—— 31, Mark, 122, 129 

——- 32, Mark, 122, 129, 215 

—— 33, 34, Mark, 122, 129 

—— 35, Mark, 122, 129, 138 

MARK IV. 10-16, Mark, 139 








Philippians, 223 ; Hebrews, 1 
Peter, 313 


MARK IV.—MARK XI. 105 




















RK IV. 35, Mark, 158 MARK IX. 8, Mark ix., 1, 11 
| —— 36, Mark, 158, 162 —— 9-13, Mark ix., 1 
| _— 37, Mark, 158 —19, Mark ix., 13; m. Corin- 
| —— 38, Mark, 158, 162 thians, 55 
| —— 39, Mark, 158; Philippians, |—— 23, Deuteronomy, 177; m 
e275 Kings, 135; Mark ix, 22; 
| —— 40-41, Mark, 158 Epistles of John, 101 

MARK V. 1-17, Mark, 177 —— 24, Mark, 207; Mark ix, 
| —— 18-19, Mark, 177, 186 33; Ephesians, 214; Peter, 
| —— 20, Mark, 177 178 

_— 22-24, Mark, 194 — 27, Genesis, 293 

—— 25-27, Mark, 199 — 33, Mark ix., 44, 54 

i 28, Mark, 199, 213 — 34-42, Mark ix., 44 

_— 32, Mark, 215 —— 49, Mark ix., 55 

_—— 34, Mark, 213 — 50, Mark ix., 64 

ie 35-38, Mark, 194 MARK X. 9, Peter, 176 

|; — 39, Ezekiel, 103; Mark, | —— 13-15, Mark ix., 70 

194 17, Mark ix., 74; mu. Cor- 

—— 40-43, Mark, 194 inthians, 115 
MARK VI. 1-4, Mark, 228 18-19, Mark ix., 74 
— 5-6, Mark, 228, 237 —— 20, Mark ix., 74; Philippians, 

— 7-13, Mark, 228 319 
| —— 16, Mark, 247 —— 2], Mark, 216; Mark ix., 74; 
| —— 17-28, Mark, 256 Philippians, 384 

-— 30, Mark, 262 —— 22-27, Mark ix., 74 

— 3l, Mark, 262, 281; Romans, | —— 29, Genesis, 160 
| 387; u. Timothy, 208 —— 32, Mark ix., 81 

— 32-44, Mark, 262 — 35-43, Mark ix., 90 

— 46, Luke, 333 —— 44, Mark ix., 90; Epistles of 
MARK VII. 24-30, Mark, 268 John, 203 

— 33-34, Mark, 273 — 45, Mark ix., 83, 90; m. Cor- 
MARK VIII. 17, Mark, 302 inthians, 35; Hebrews, 79 

'— 18, Mark, 302, 310 46, Mark ix., 95 











_— 22-25, Mark, 318 — 50, Mark ix., 106 
| —— 33, Mark, 216 — 51, Mark ix., 107 
MARK IX. 1, Mark, 330 MARK XI. 2, Mark ix., 109 
| —— 2, Mark ix., 1 —— 3, Mark ix., 119 
/—— 3, Mark ix., 1; 1. Corinthians, 11, Mark, 225 
250, 322; Peter, 315; Epistles 12-13, 0. Timothy, 357 
of John, 249 — 13, Isaiah xlix., 308; Mark 
— 4-6, Mark ix., 1 ix., 127 


| —— 7, Exodus, 97; Matthew ix., |; —— 14, Mark ix., 127 
219; Mark ix., 1,7 — 24, Philippians, 361 


106 


MARK XII. 1-5, Mark ix., 137 

— 6, Mark ix., 137, 144 

— 7-12, Mark ix., 137 

—— 17, Esther, 390 

— 30-31, Ephesians, 388 

—— 34, Mark ix., 148 

MARK XIIL. 6, Mark ix., 151 

— 13, Matthew ix., 79 

—— 34, Mark ix., 157 

—— 37, u. Timothy, 177 

MARK XIV. 6, Mark ix., 162 

— 8, Exodus, 219; Mark ix., 
162; Romans, 385 

—— 9, Mark ix., 162 

— 12-16, Mark ix., 171, 175 

— 17-21, Mark ix., 175 

— 19, Mark, 182 

—— 22, Mark ix., 175; 
inthians, 232 

— 23-26, Mark ix., 175 

— 32-34, Mark ix., 187 

—— 35, Mark ix., 187; uo. Timothy, 
347 

— 36, Mark ix., 187 

— 37, Mark ix., 187, 194 

—— 38-42, Mark ix., 187 

— 43-54, Mark ix., 203 

— 55-61, Mark ix., 211 

—— 62, Mark ix., 211; Epistles 
of John, 316 

—— 63-64, Mark ix., 211 

—— 71, 1. Corinthians, 42 

MARK XV. 1-20, Mark ix., 219 

— 21, Mark ix., 237 

—— 21-33, Mark ix., 228 

34, Exodus, 199; Deuter- 

onomy, 84; wm. Samuel, 82; 

Mark ix., 228; Philippians, 212; 

Hebrews, 309 

35-39, Mark ix., 228 

MARK XVI. 1-4, Mark ix., 248 

— 5, Mark ix., 248, 258, 274 

— 6, Mark ix., 248, 274 


1. Cor- 








MARK XII.—MARY MAGDALENE 
















MARK XVI. 7, Mark ix,, | 
284; Luke xiii., 245 ~ 

— 8, Mark ix., 248 

— 9, Mark ix., 248, 302 

— 10-13, Mark ix., 248 

— 15, Mark ix., 308; 4 
inthians, 132 

—— 18, m. Timothy, 57 

—— 19, Mark ix., 312; Hebrew 

—— 20, Deuteronomy, 128 ; 
137; Hebrews, 206 

MARRIAGE as an emblem, FP 
317 

—— hymn for, Psalms, 307 

—— metaphorical use of, Deut 
onomy, 189 

—— a mixed, Romans, 358 

—— religious considerations 
Genesis, 259 

—— ungodly, mo. Samuel, 
Ezekiel, 337 

—— unwise, Ezekiel, 107 

MARTHA, John ix., 92 

—— and immortality, Esther, 

— and Mary, John ix., 121 

MARTYRS, Christ’s death 
Acts, 229 : 

—— early Christian, Hebrews, 2 

—— Nonconformist, Hebrews, 2! 

MARTYRDOM for faith, Eze 
59 

—— of James, Acts, 366 

— of John, Matthew ix., 2 
Mark, 256 

—— of John Baptist, Mark, 
Luke, 76 

MARY (Romans xyi.), Romans, 

—— of Bethany, John ix., 92 

—— the anointing by, Mark 
162; John ix., 119 

MARY MAGDALENE, Mark 
302; Luke, 217 

—— Mother of Jesus, John, 111 


: MASTER—MATT. V. 


107 





FASTER, Christ as, John xv., 152 

—— rejected, Mark, 228 

—— and servant, Acts, 226 

— choice of a, Deuteronomy, 22 

— traders for the, Matthew 

xviii, 195 

MATERIAL THINGS, the trans- 

| ciency of, Peter, 280 

MATRON, portrait of a, Esther, 288 

MATTHEW, Mark, 110 

— call of, Matthew ix., 
Mark, 70 

MATTHEW, Si., GOSPEL OF, 
Matthew, 21, 29 

—— —— genealogy of Christ in, 
Matthew, 1 

—— —— idea of, Matthew, 1, 19, 
29 

MATT. I. 1-13, Matthew, 1 

—— 18-20, Matthew, 6 

— 21, Matthew, 6, 12; Ephes- 
ians, 99 

— 22-25, Matthew, 6 

MATT. IT. 1-12, Matthew, 19 

—— 13-23, Matthew, 28 

MATT. III. 1-10, Matthew, 37 

— I], Isaiah, 174; Matthew, 37, 
48; Acts, 52 

— 11-12, Matthew. 37 

— 14-16, Matthew, 64 

— 16, Matthew, 66 

— 17, Matthew, 64; Hebrews, 78 

MATT. IV. 1-3, Matthew, 76 

—— 4, Exodus, 69; Matthew, 76, 
265; uo. Timothy, 245 

—— 5-7, Matthew, 76 

—— 7, Isaiah, 168; Matthew, 76 

— 8-11, Matthew, 76 

— 12-16, Matthew, 86 

—— 17-18, Matthew, 89 

—— 19, Deuteronomy, 104; Mat- 
thew, 89 

— 20-25, Matthew, 89 


18; 








MATT. V. 1-2, Matthew, 97 

—— 3, Matthew, 97, 108 

—— 4, Matthew, 97, 117 

— 5, Matthew, 97, 126 

— 6, u. Samuel, 143; Matthew, 
97, 135 

—— 7, Matthew, 97, 143 

— 8, Matthew, 97, 153; Epistles 
of John, 376 

—— 9, Matthew, 97, 161 

— 10, Matthew, 97, 171 

— 10-11, Matthew, 97, 171 

12, Deuteronomy, 379; Mat- 

thew, 97; Peter, 17 

13, Genesis, 137; Deuter- 
onomy, 379; Isaiah xlix., 285; 
Matthew, 97, 178; Epistles ef 
John, 289 

— 14, Psalm li., 252; Matthew, 
97, 188; wu. Corinthians, 283; 
Peter, 97, 106 

— 15, Matthew, 97, 188 

— 16, Exodus, 136; 
222; Matthew, 97, 188 

—— 17, Matthew, 331 

—— 17-26, Matthew, 199 

—— 20, Matthew, 199; 
othy, 139 

24, Matthew, 199; Philippians, 

360 

29, Luke xiii, 289; 

xiii., 295; ou. Timothy, 56 

30, 1. Corinthians, 194; He- 

brews, 194 

33-37, Matthew, 208 

—— 38, Deuteronomy, 169; Mat- 
thew, 210 

—— 39-42, Matthew, 210 

—— 43-48, Matthew, 214 

—— 44, Deuteronomy, 256; Mat- 
thew, 214 

45, Matthew, 214; 

lans, 274 








Ezekiel, 


nu. Tim- 








Acts 











Ephes- 





MATT. VY. 48, Esther, 110; Psalm 
li., 158; Matthew, 214; Ephes- 
ians, 177 

MATT. VI. 1, Exodus, 140 

—— 1-5, Matthew, 220 

—— 6, Matthew, 226 

—— 7, Esther, 354; Psalm li., 164 

—— 9, Exodus, 30; Matthew, 228, 
233, 241 

— 10, Matthew, 244, 253; 1 
Corinthians, 118 

—— 11, Matthew, 260 

—— 12, Matthew, 272 

—— 13, Matthew, 277, 282, 289; 
m. Timothy, 125, 126 

—— 16-18, Matthew, 298 

— 19, Matthew, 299; 
pians, 384; Hebrews, 243 

—— 19-20, Matthew, 299 

—— 21, Matthew, 302 

—— 24,1. Kings, 46; Psalms, 37 ; 
Matthew, 311; Luke 238; John 
xv., 65; Philippians, 204 

—— 25, Matthew, 311 

—— 28, Psalm li., 109 

—— 31, Genesis, 213 

—— 32, Psalm li., 99, 390; Isaiah, 
239 

—— 33, Genesis, 87, 92, 206; 1. 
Samuel, 160; Matthew, 243; 
Romans, 198; Philippians, 140 

—— 34, no. Samuel, 187; um. Kings, 
116; Philippians, 33 

MATT. VII. 1-6, Matthew, 324 

—7, u. Kings, 153; Matthew, 
324, 332; Epistles of John, 302 

— 8-12, Matthew, 324 

—— 13-14, Matthew, 342 

—— 15, Exodus, 75 

—— 16, Philippians, 337 

—— 21, Philippians, 147 


Philip- 


— 22, Isaiah, 303; Hebrews, 404 | —— 30, 31, Matthew ix., 29 


—— 22-23, uo. Timothy, 76 

















MATT. VII. 24-26, Matthew, 


—— 28-29, Matthew, 363 
—— 29, Exodus, 317 f 
MATT. VIIL, Matthew ix., 74 
—— 1-4, Matthew, 373 
—— 3, Genesis, 293 ; Matthew, 
—— 4, Matthew, 373 
—— 8-9, Psalms, 344; 
377 
—— 14-15, Matthew, 386 
— 17, wu. Kings, 339; 
xlix., 98; Matthew, 388 
—— 19-20, Matthew, 397 
— 20, Deuteronomy, 
Esther, 342; Psalm li., 
Matthew, 397; mu. Cori 
236; Hebrews, 152 
—— 21, Matthew, 397, 405 ; 
83 
—— 22, Ezekiel, 105; Ma’ 
405 
—— 23-27, Matthew, 412 
—— 25, Matthew, 412; 1 
inthians, 8 
—— 28-34, Matthew, 416 
MATT. IX., Matthew ix., 74 
—— 2, Matthew ix., 1 
—— 6, Matthew ix., 8; 
pians, 227 
—— 7, Deuteronomy, 21 
—— 9-14, Matthew ix., 18 
—— 15, Matthew ix., 18, 328 
—— 16, 17, Matthew ix., 18 
—— 18-23, Matthew ix., 29 
—— 23, Exodus, 182; Mat 
29 
—— 24, Matthew ix., 29; A 
348; Philippians, 191 
—— 25-28, Matthew ix., 29 
—— 29, Matthew ix., 29; 
ians, 213 


—— 36, Matthew ix., 41, 69 






- Acts, 239 
— 6-15, Matthew ix., 68 
—— 16, Matthew ix., 68-74 
. 17-21, Matthew ix., 74 
—— 22, Matthew ix., 74; Hebrews, 
105 
— 23, Matthew ix., 7 
24-25, Matthew ix., 74, 83 
26-27, Matthew, 74 
—— 28, Matthew ix., 74; Philip- 
— 29. 31, Matthew ix., 74 
—— 32, Isaiah xlix., 321; Matthew 
ix, 94; John ix., 251; John xv., 
296; Romans, 365; Philippians, 
| "379 
—— 34, Matthew ix., 94; Hebrews, 
| 7: Peter, 3 
—— 35, Matthew ix., 94 
—— 36, Matthew ix., 94; Hebrews, 
189 
eon” Genesis, 156; um. Samuel, 
105; Matthew, 409; Matthew 
ix., 94 
38, Matthew ix., 94 
— 39, Deuteronomy, 258; Mat- 
thew ix., 94, 102 
— 40, Matthew ix., 94 
41, Matthew ix., 94, 110 
— 42, Deuteronomy, 394; Mat- 
thew ix., 94, 100 
TT. XI. 2, Matthew ix., 121 
3, Isaiah, 221; Matthew ix., 
121; Mark ix., 156 
4, Matthew ix., 121 
5, Matthew ix., 121; 
301 
— 6-10, Matthew ix., 121 
11, Matthew ix., 121; 
























Mark, 


Luke, 


— 12-15, Matthew ix., 121 
‘19, Matthew ix., 131 


| MATT. X.—MATT. XIII. 








109 





TT. X. 5, Matthew ix., 55, 68; | MATT. XT. 20. Matthew ix., 138 


25, Matthew ix., 148; 
ix., 23 


John 


—— 27, Esther, 50; Matthew ix., 


149 

28, Psalm li., 100; Isaiah, 

188; Isaiah xlix., 17, 331; 

Ezekiel, 91, 357; Matthew ix., 

147, 153; Matthew xviii, 33; 

John, 241; 1. Corinthians, 384; 

Ephesians, 196; Philippians, 39, 

296; uu. Timothy, 277, 310, 

329 

29, Isaiah, 46; Matthew, 117; 

Matthew ix., 153 

30, Psalms, 22; um. Corinth- 
ians, 63, 178 ; Hebrews, 44 

MATT. XII. 1-12, Matthew, ix. 163 

— 6, John, 135 

13, Matthew ix., 163; Ephes- 

jans, 323 

14, Matthew ix., 163 

—— 24, Matthew ix., 41, 171 

— 30, Deuteronomy, 218 

——- 33, Matthew ix., 181; um. Cor- 
inthians, 377; Ephesians, 290 

—— 40, Matthew ix., 328 

—— 4], Matthew ix., 192, 196 

42, m1. Samuel, 201, 208; Mat- 

thew ix., 196 

49, no. Timothy, 240 

MATT. XIII. 1-8, Matthew ix., 201 

—— 9, Matthew ix., 201, 211 

—— 12,1u. Kings, 33; Matthewix., 
220; Ephesians, 141; Philip- 
pians, 110; uo. Timothy, 303 

13, Matthew ix., 230 

15, Matthew ix., 231 

—— 24-29, Matthew ix., 234 

— 30, Deuteronomy, 379; 
Samuel, 131; 
Hebrews, 316 

33, Matthew ix., 244 


























IL 
Matthew ix., 234; 


























MATT. XIII. 43, Deuteronomy, 4; 
Esther, 108; Philippians, 251; 
uu. Timothy, 372; Peter, 34 

—— 44, 45, Matthew ix., 251 

—— 46, u. Kings, 219; Matthew 
ix., 251 

—— 58, 1. Corinthians, 38; Peter, 
16 

MATT. XIV. 1-11, Matthew ix., 
262 

—— 12, Matthew ix., 262, 269 

—— 13, un. Timothy, 34 

—— 19, Matthew ix., 282 

—— 20, Matthew ix., 282; Ephes- 
ians, 189 

—— 22, Matthew ix., 298 

—— 23, Matthew ix., 298; Luke, 
333 

—— 24-27, Matthew ix., 298 

— 28, Matthew ix., 298, 305 

—— 29-30, Matthew, 298 

—— 31, Matthew ix., 298; um. Tim- 
ethy, 253 

—— 32-36, Matthew ix., 298 

MATT. XV. 14, Romans, 44 

—— 21-27, Matthew ix., 314 

28, Matthew ix., 314; Philip- 
pians, 103, 110 

—— 29-31, Matthew ix., 314 

MATT. XVI. 4, Deuteronomy, 233 

—— 13-14, Matthew ix., 322 

—— 15, Matthew ix., 322; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 137 

— 16, Matthew ix., 322 

— 17, Matthew ix., 322; Mat- 
thew xviii., 296 

—— 18, Matthew ix., 322 

— 19-20, Matthew ix., 322; 1 
Corinthians, 37 

—— 21, Matthew ix., 322 

— 22, Matthew ix., 322, 333; 
Peter, 109 

—— 23-25, Matthew ix., 322 





MATT. XIII.—MATT. XX. 


MATT. XVI. 25, Matthew ix., 
Hebrews, 99; Epistles of Jo. 

26, Genesis, 194, 201; 
Kings, 221; Matthew ix., 

— 27, Matthew ix., 322; 
Timothy, 163 

—— 27-28, Matthew ix., 322 

MATT. XVIL. 1-4, Matthew i 

4, Matthew ix., 343; 
pians, 227 

—— 5-13, Matthew ix., 343 

—— 19-20, Matthew ix., 352 

—— 25-26, Matthew ix., 374 

—— 27, Exodus, 170 

MATT. XVIII. 1-ll, Ma 
xviii., 1, 31 

—— 11, John, 368 

—— 12, Matthew xviii., 1, 19 

—— 13, Matthew xviii., 28, 29 

—— 13-14, Matthew xviii., 1 

—— 21, Mark ix., 300 

—— 22, Matthew xviii. 33; E 
ians, 167 

—— 23, Matthew, 232 

MATT. XIX. 6, u. Timothy, 
Hebrews, 400 

—— 16-21, Matthew xviii., 46 — 

—— 21, n. Kings, 207 

—— 22-24, Matthew xviii., 46 

—— 24, Mark ix., 150 

—— 25-26, Matthew xviii., 46 

—— 28, Hebrews, 256 

—— 29, Romans, 378 

MATT. XX. 21, m. Samuel, 
Epistles of John, 150 

—— 22, m. Kings, 201; m 
inthians, 345 

—— 23, Matthew xviii, 56 

—— 26, 1. Corinthians, 141 

—— 27, u. Timothy, 82 

—— 28, Matthew ix., 26; 
xviii., 71, 80; 1. Corinthians, 
u. ‘imothy, 178 











FL 


MATT. XXI.—MATT. XXVI. 111 





MATT. XXI. 1-2, Matthew xviii., | MATT. XXIV. 43, Matthew xviii, 


89 166; Philippians, 199 
—— 3, Matthew xviii, 89; wu. | —— 44, Ezekiel, 155 
Timothy, 83 — 44-51, Matthew xviii., 166 
— 4-5, Matthew xviii., 89, 97 MATT. XXY. 1-4, Matthew xviii., 
— 6-8, Matthew xviii., 89 175 
—— 9, Matthew xviii., 89; Ephes- | —— 5, Exodus, 3; Matthew xviii., 
jans, 127; Peter, 42 175; Ephesians, 322 
—— 10-16, Matthew xviii., 89 — 6-7, Matthew xviili., 175 
—— 18, Deuteronomy, 17 —— 8, Matthew xviii., 175, 181 
—— 28, 1. Corinthians, 35 — 9, Matthew xviii., 175 
—— 33-36, Matthew xviii., 107 — 10, Psalms, 327; Matthew 
—— 37, u. Kings, 37; Matthew xviii., 175, 189 
xvili., 107 — ll, Esther, 235; Matthew 
—— 38-43, Matthew xviii., 107 xviii., 175 
—— 47, Acts, 133 —— 12-13, Matthew xviii., 175 
—— 44, Matthew xviii., 107, 116 —— 14-20, Matthew xviii., 195 
—— 45-46, Matthew xviii., 107 — 21, u. Kings, 325; Matthew 
MATT. XXII. 1-14, Matthew xviii., xviii., 195; Hebrews, 376 
126 — 23, Matthew xviii, 195; 
—— 12, Acts xiii., 303 Epistles of John, 225, 338, 374 
—— 2], nm. Samuel, 101 —— 24, Matthew xviii., 195, 205; 
—— 29, Mark ix., 271 Il. Timothy, 157; Peter, 178, 360 
—— 32, Exodus, 25 —— 24-25, Matthew xviii., 195, 
—— 34-36, Matthew xviii., 135 205; Peter, 354 
—— 37, Matthew xviii, 135; | —— 26-29, Matthew xviii., 195 
Romans, 107 —— 30-33, Matthew xviii., 213 
—— 38-46, Matthew xviii., 135 —— 33, 1. Corinthians, 60 
MATT. XXIII. 8, mo. Kings, 89; | —— 34-37, Matthew xviii., 213 
Matthew ix., 89; 1. Corinthians, | —— 37, Mark ix., 169 
67; Philippians, 90; Epistles of |} —— 38-40, Matthew xviii., 213 
John, 175 —— 40, Mark, 38 
—— 27-37, Matthew xviii., 139 —— 41-44, Matthew xviii., 213 
—— 37,1. Kings, 31; Esther, 371 ; | —— 44, Psalms, 75 
Psalms, 162; Psalm li., 190; | —— 45-46, Matthew xviii., 213 
Matthew xviii., 139 MATT. XXVI. 6-16, Matthew 
—— 38, Isaiah, 167 y XViii., 221 
—— 38-39, Matthew xviii., 139 — 17-21, Matthew xviii., 225 
MATT. XXIV. 13, Matthew ix., |—— 22, Matthew xviii., 225, 232; 
79; Matthew xviii., 148 wu. Timothy, 89 
—— 28, Matthew xviii., 157 —— 23-24, Matthew xvili., 225 
—— 39, Philippians, 152 —— 25, Matthew xviii., 225-232 


—— 42, Matthew xviii., 166 — 26, Matthew xviii., 225 


MATT. XXVI. 27, Exodus, 123; 
Matthew xviii., 225, 243; Philip- 
pians, 312 

—— 28, Isaiah xlix., 115; Mat- 
thew xviii., 225, 243; 1. Corinth- 
ians, 173; Hebrews, 37 

—— 29, Matthew xviii., 225, 252; 
1. Corinthians, 170 

—— 30, Matthew xviii., 225 

—— 33, Peter, 74 

— 36, Matthew xviii., 261 

— 37, Matthew xviii, 261; 
Timothy, 344 

—— 38, Matthew xviii., 261; mm. 


i. 


Corinthians, 177; wu. Timothy, 
344 
— 39, Matthew xviii, 261; 


Ephesians, 39 

— 40-41, Matthew xviii., 261 

—— 41, Mark ix., 198 

— 42, Matthew xviii, 261; L 
Corinthians, 99; Philippians, 
295 

-—— 43-49, Matthew xviii., 261 

—— 50, Matthew xviii., 270 

— 57-64, Matthew xviii., 286 

—— 64, John ix., 159; Hebrews, 
76 

— 65-68, Matthew xviii., 286 

MATT. XXVIII. 4, Matthew xviii., 
299 

—— 11-23, Matthew xviii., 310 

—— 24, Matthew xviii., 299, 310 

—— 25-26, Matthew xviii., 310 

—— 33-40, Matthew xviii., 317 

— 41, Matthew xviii., 317, 332 

— 42, Matthew ix., 340; Mat- 
thew xviii., 317; Luke xiii., 22 

43-45, Matthew xviii., 317 

— 46, Isaiah xlix., 102; Mat- 
thew xviii., 317; mu. Corinthians, 
53, 177 

—— 47-50, Matthew xviii., 317 















—— 9, Matthew xviii., 350, 
—— 10-15, Matthew xviii., 350 
—— 16-17, Matthew xviii., 369 
—— 18, u. Samuel, 298 ; 
381; Hebrews, 82 
—— 19, Matthew, 68 
—— 19, 20, Mark, 193 
—— 20, um. Kings, 75, 76; 
xv., 178; wu. Corinthians, 
Epistles of John, 32, 183 
—— 29, Ephesians, 397 


— sopamall in, Matthew i 
MEANINGS, two, of one sa‘ 
John, 299; John ix., 1 


power, the, Ephesians, 72 
MEDIATOR, prayer of 

Exodus, 186 
MEDITATION, duty of, 
—— need of, Isaiah xlix., 233, 
—— on God’s love, Peter, 298 
—— silent, Psalm li., 69 
MEEK, blessedness of the, 

126 
portion of the, Psalms, 
MEEKNESS of Jesus Christ, I 





68 

MELCHIZEDECK, Genesis, 
Hebrews, 1 

MEMORIAL, stones for, 
onomy, 116 | 

— a religious, Exodus, 47 


MEMORY—MIGHTY 


118 





ORY and hope, Psalm li, 114 
in another world, Luke xiii., 
107 
— educating the, Psalm li., 155 
_ the lesson of, Deuteronomy, 4 
_— power of, Exodus, 117 
'— religious uses of, Mark, 310 
— a short, Exodus, 66 
— stores of, Genesis, 26 
'— helpful, Genesis, 171 
MEN, Christ glorified in glorified, 
_ Philippians, 248 
— Christlike judgement of, Mat- 
thew ix., 41 
— dying, and the undying word, 
_ Ezekiel-Malachi, 264 
— fainting, Isaiah xlix., 268 
— Scripture divides, into two 
classes, Genesis, 16 
—a servant of, 1. Corinthians, 
+142 
-— strong, needed, Exodus, 90 
— what sin does to, Isaiah, 9 
-—— what kind Christ makes, nm. 
_ Timothy, 7 


MENE, TEKEL, PERES, Ezekiel. | 
| MICAH VY. 7, Deuteronomy, 235; 


‘Malachi, 62 
MEPHIBOSHETH, nu. Samuel, 43 
MERCIES, innumerable, Psalms, 
280 
— lesson of daily, Ezekiel, 63 
MERCIFUL, blessedness of the, 
Matthew, 143 
MERCY, the earth full of, Psalm 
ii, 302 
— Grace, and Peace, Epistles of 
John, 47, 49 
'—— and truth, Psalm li., 149 
-MERIBAH, the waters of, Exodus, 
353 
MERIT by works, Isaiah xlix., 151 


MESSAGE, a militant, m. Corin- 
thians, 57 

of the covenant and its seal, 
Hebrews, 257 

MESSENGERS, Christ’s, Luke, 310 

MESSIAH, blessings from the, 
Luke, 28 

— Christ as, 
Isaiah xlix., 32 

foretold, Ezekiel, 310, 343 

genealogy of, Matthew, 6 

tempted, Luke, 81 

—— triumphant, Isaiah xlix., 222 

work of, Ezekiel, 302 

MESSIAHS, Christians as, Isaiah, 
306 





Isaiah, 48, 














METAPHYSICS and_ miracles, 
Acts, 38 
MICAH rebukes drunkenness, 
Isaiah, 128 


MICAH IL. 7, Ezekiel-Malachi, 
197; Epistles of John, 286 

—— 13, Isaiah xlix., 87; Ezekiel, 
206 

MICAH IV. 5, Ezekiel, 215; 
Corinthians, 143 


pam 


Ezekiel, 220 

8, Exodus, 368 

MICAH VI. 8, Ezekiel, 230 

—— 16, u. Samuel, 230; wu. Kings, 
230 

MICAH VIL. 4, Ephesians, 376 

—— 19, Hebrews, 64 

MICAIAH, Ahab and, Samuel, 305 

MIGHT, strengthened with, Ephe- 
sians, 132 

MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS, 
231 

MIGHTY GOD of Jacob, hands of 
the, Genesis, 206 





Esther, 


MESSAGE, Christ’s, to Herod, | MIGHTY TO SAVE, Isaiah xlix., 
Luke xiii, 14 | 217 


H 


- 





MILK of salvation, Isaiah xlix., 
135, 149 

MILLIONAIRES, miserable, Isaiah, 
83 

MILTON, JOHN, Nativity quoted, 
Genesis, 221; quoted, Genesis, 
49, 199; Matthew, 351 

MIND, a renewed, Romans, 231 

MINISTER, Jesus Christ as, Mat- 
thew xviii., 75; Hebrews, 23 

MINISTERS as lights, Ephesians, 
175 

—— as rulers and servants, Epistles 
of John, 171 

——and dying churches, Epistles 
of Jobn, 241 

—— the first, Matthew, 89 

payment of, Philippians, 67 

—— prayers for, Psalm li., 356 

— temptations of, Philippians, 
362 

MINISTRY, forty years of, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 19 

of women, Luke, 217 

subjects of Christian, John 
xv., 100 

MIRACLE in Cana, the first, John, 
114 

effort and, Samuel, 352 

of five loaves, the, Mark, 262; 

Luke, 254 

of grace, a, Philippians, 345 

— Old Testament, mn. Samuel, 237 

parable in a, Mark, 39 

and sermon, Matthew, 373 

— singular manner of, Exodus, 
65 

— within a miracle, Luke, 242 


























MIRACLES, explanation of Christ 
Matthew ix., 174 

—— features of Christ’s, Ma’ 
ix., 29, 36, 39 


—— of healing, Isaiah xlix., 215 

— and history, m. Samuel, 387 

—— possibility of, Acts, 38 

— as parables, Matthew ix., 

—— as ‘signs,’ Matthew ix., 37 

—— purpose of, John, 224, 
Jobn xv., 361 

—— in St. John’s Gospel, J 
114, 223-269; John ix., 11-98 

—— testimony to, Acts, 38 

— timeliness of, Deuteronom: 
138 

MIRIAM, Exodus, 12; Esther, 

MIRRORS of God, Peter, 101 

MISSIONARIES, designation 
first, Acts xiii., 1 

MISSIONARY COMMISSION, th 
Mark ix., 308 

MISSIONARY EFFORT, call tc 
Esther, 263 ; Isaiah xlix., 249 

MISSIONARY MOTIVES, Act 
158; 1. Corinthians, 132 

— work of church, Isaiah 
177; John ix., 40 

work, first, Acts, 316 

MISSIONS, Christian, Mark, 
291 

—— Christianity and, John xv., § 

— contributions for, Ezekiel, 33 
332 

—— fields of, Esther, 20 

—— reasons for, Esther, 14 





MIRACLES, CHRIST’S, John, 147 | —— success in foreign, John ix., 71 


— — costly, Isaiah xlix., 99 

imitated, Acts, 288 

—  Christ’s Resurrection and, I. 
Corinthians, 203 








| MISTAKES of Christ’s foes 


friends, Mark, 122 
MITRE, the high priest’s, Exodu 
152 q 


MNASON—MOTHERS 


115 





MNASON, Acts xiii., 231 

MOABITE STONE, 1. Samuel, 230 

MOB, the, and early Christians, 
Acts xiii., 136 

MOCKER, sin the, Esther, 181 


’ MOCKERS, judgement of, Isaiah, 


125 

MODERN PERSECUTION, Mat- 
thew, 174 

MOHAMMEDAN WORLD, Gene- 
sis, 107 

MOHAMMEDANISM, Exodus, 144 

MOLOCH, Genesis, 162 


MOMENTS, three great, Luke, 48 


MONARCH, Christ’s ideal of, Luke 
xiii., 224 

MONARCHY, ideal, Isaiah, 45 

—and the Victorian era, I. 
Samuel, 135 

MONEY, Christian use of, Romans, 
284; uw. Corinthians, 21, 36 

clean, u. Kings, 314 

—— God’s claim on, Exodus, 130 

—— Paul and the churches’, Philip- 
pians, 58, 67 

—— responsibilities of 
with, Luke xiii., 93 

— suitable for God’s work, u. 
Kings, 20 

—— use of, Philippians, 384 

MONOTHEISM, Genesis, 158 

—— in Old Testament, Isaiah xlix., 
88 

MONOTONY and crises, Esther, 

101 

—— of life, Esther, 309 

MORALITY, aim of Christian, 
u. Timothy, 48 





dealings 


_——and ceremonialism, u. Cor- 


inthians, 315 

— and Christianity,1. Corinthians, 
1; Philippians, 52, 170 

—— and mysticism, Peter, 311 





MORALITY and religion, Exodus, 
100; John ix., 358; Peter, 61 

sexual, Timothy, 33 

MORALS, Christian, Romans, 221, 








261, 274 

and religion, relation of, 
Exodus, 108 
MORDECAI, a _ nonconformist, 


Esther, 1 

and Esther, Esther, 7, 14 

‘MORE than conquerors,’ Samuel, 
49; Romans, 200 

MOREH, Genesis, 75 

MORNING, prayer in the, 1. Kings, 
333 

MORNING CALL, the soldiers’, 
Romans, 317 

MOSAIC system, the, Genesis, 105 

MOSES as shepherd, Exodus, 20 

— the call of, Exodus, 26 

charges Joshua, Deuteronomy, 








91 





and Christ, John, 39 

—— as type of Christ, Exodus, 176 

death of, Deuteronomy, 77 

—— despondency of, Exodus, 329 

— faith of, Hebrews, 156 

—— finding of, Exodus, 12 

— holy wrath of, Exodus, 180 

as intercessor, Exodus, 187, 349 

—— a prayer of, Psalm li., 177 

punishment of, Exodus, 360; 
Psalm li., 222 

—— shining face of, Exodus, 204 

—— the song of, Epistles of John, 
341, 347 

— with Christ, Matthew ix., 346 

MOTE and beam, Luke, 132 

MOTH#R, a busy, Esther, 295 

love of a, Exodus, 13 

MOTHERS, in genealogy of Jesus, 
Matthew, 5 

inhuman, Isaiah xlix., 400 

















116 


MOTIVE, ® crown as a, 1. Cor-| MURDER and war, Exodus, 111 


inthians, 161 

MOTIVES, hope and fear as, 1. 
Corinthians, 6 

—— tender and strong, Epistles of 
John, 269, 303 

MOUNT OF VISION, the, Hebrews, 
35 

MOUNTAIN, 
xviii., 369 

— road, the, Isaiah xlix., 7 

MOUNTAINS, changeful, Isaiah 
xlix., 126 

—— difficulties as, m. Kings, 286 

MOURNERS, blessed, Matthew, 
119 

MURDER, the first, Genesis, 14 


on the, Matthew 


NAAMAN, Acts xiii., 344 

—— imperfect faith of, Samuel, 
368 

— wrath of, Samuel, 359 

NABOTH, ut. Samuel, 279 

NADAB and Abihu, Exodus, 241 

NAKED or clothed ? Esther, 358 

NAKEDNESS, sin is, Isaiah xlix., 
175 

NAME, THE, Epistles of John, 62 

— above every name, the, Mat- 
thew, 12; Acts, 67 

—— Abram’s changed, Genesis, 121 

— calling on Christ’s, 1. Corinth- 
ians, 1 

faith in Christ’s, Hebrews, 
406 

— glory of Christ’s, m. Corinth- 
ians, 262 

— God proclaiming His own, 
Exodus, 195; Psalms, 137 





MOTIVE—NAMES 

















MURDERERS, royal, Samuel, 
‘ MUSTS,’ Christ’s, Luke, 66 ; 
xiii., 21; John, 151, 171 
—— —— in our lives, John ix., 4 
‘MY GOD,’ Deuteronomy, 386 
MYSTERY of salvation, 
xlix., 229 
MYSTIC, John the, Peter, 
321 
MYSTICAL RELIGION, Psalm li. 
101 
MYSTICISM, Christian, Ephesi 
112, 145; Epistles of John, 8 
—— and morality, Peter, 311 
—— and truth, John, 296; mo. 
inthians, 353 


NAME, God pledged by 
Hebrews, 148 

healing power of the, Acts, 

—— of Godis His character, 
19 

— of the Lord, Esther, 210, 
217 

—— revelation by God’s, 
195, 200 

the victor’s new, Epistles 

John, 210, 275 








NAMES, divine, Exodus, 23 
Psalm li., 160 

—— the divine book of, 
xlix., 319 


ll . 
—— of God, m. Samuel, 41 
—— on breastplate, the, 

144 
— scriptural, Isaiah, 296, 298 






229 
—— significance of children’s, Exo- 
dus, 80 
_—their summons and pledge, 
Genesis, 122 
_—— the victor’s, Epistles of John, 
_ 210, 275 
: NAOMI, Deuteronomy, 266 
NAPOLEON, army of, Exodus, 59 
_ NATHAN, Psalm li, 1 
_—— David and, Samuel, 64; uo. 
_ Samuel, 55 
NATHANAEL, Genesis, 209 ; John, 
85; John xv., 338 
NATION, the holy, Ezekiel-Malachi, 
19 
— property of, u. Kings, 138, 
157 
—— sin of a, nm. Kings, 270 
NATIONAL EVILS, Christians 
and, Acts xiii., 279 
NATIONAL LIFE and manners, 
Acts xiii., 26 
NATIONAL OATH of Shechem, 
the, Deuteronomy, 183 
NATIVITY, the, Matthew, 6 
NATURAL WORLD, 
bringer in, Matthew, 412 
NATURE, Duty, Christ, as leaders, 
John ix., 132 
—— God in, Isaiah, 263 
—— partakers of the divine, Peter, 
189 
NAZARENE, a, Matthew, 36 
NAZARENES reject Christ, Mark, 
ail 
NAZARETH, Christ preaching at, 
Luke, 85 
——,, prejudice against, John, 87 
NEBUCHADNEZZAR, u. Kings, 
71 
— dreams of, Ezekiel, 49 


Peace- 


NAMES—NEPHEW 


2 
NAMES, significance of, Genesis, NEBUCHADNEZZAR and Hebrew 


117 





youths, Ezekiel, 46, 60 

NECESSITY for Christ’s death, 
Matthew ix., 338 

NEED, the common deepest, 
Epistles of John, 88 

NEEDS all satisfied, Psalm li., 388 

NEGATIVES, heaven described in, 
John ix., 280 

NEGLECT, excuses for, Ezekiel, 
11, 14 

effect of, Ezekiel, 175 

NEHEMIAH as nonconformist, 0. 
Kings, 361 

— as reformer, 0. Kings, 334 

character and work of, 4. 

Kings, 326 

counsels joy, 0. Kings, 379 

—— difficulties and successes of, 
m. Kings, 355 

and reading the law, 0. Kings, 
377 

—— and the Sabbath, mu. Kings, 
393 

NEH. I. 1-11, mo. Kings, 326 | 

—— 4, u. Kings, 334 

—— 5, u. Kings, 358 

NEH. Il. 17, a. Kings, 328 

NEH. III. 28, o. Kings, 343 

NEH. IV. 9-21, o. Kings, 354 

—— 15, Mark ix., 159 

NEH. V. 15, Exodus, 42; m 
Samuel, 280; uo. Kings, 361; 
Matthew, 348 

NEH. VIII. 1-12, m. Kings, 371 

— 10, u. Kings, 379 

NEH. XIII. 15-22, ut. Kings, 391 

NEIGHBOUR, who is, Matthew, 
215 

a far-off, Luke, 315 

NELSON at Copenhagen, Genesis, 
177 

NEPHEW, Paul’s, Acts xiii., 268 

















H2 


NEST and mother bird, a parable, 
Isaiah, 165 

NET, broken, the, Esther, 23 

—— spread, the, Esther, 1 

NEUTRALITY, selfish, Acts, 201 

‘NEVER in bondage,’ John, 341 

NEW BIRTH. See Regeneration 

NEW CENTURY, a, Esther, 297 

NEW COVENANT. See also Cove- 
nant 

—— articles of, Hebrews, 46 

NEW EPOCH, old truth for a, 
Deuteronomy, 319 

NEW GARMENT rent, the, Samuel, 
208 

NEW JERUSALEM, Ezekiel, 261 

NEW KING, a, Luke xiii., 183 

NEW LEADER, Commission of 
the, Deuteronomy, 87 

NEW MAN, the, Ephesians, 247 

and the ‘old man,’ Ro- 
mans, 166 

NEW TEMPLE and its worship, 

ou. Kings, 294 











NEW TESTAMENT and Old, last 


words of, Ezekiel, 363 

—— —— the final authority, John, 
364; John ix., 370 

oldest book of the, 
Philippians, 237 

NEW THOUGHIS welcomed, Acts 
Xili., 235 

NEW YEAR, sermon for, Exodus, 
270; Psalm li., 121; Isaiah xlix., 
162; Ezekiel, 84; Acts, 23; 
Hebrews, 286 





NEW YEAR’Ssermonto the young, 


Esther, 391 
NEWMAN, J. H., quoted,Genesis, 58 
NEWTON, John, quoted, Gencsis, 
163 
NICKNAME accepted, a, Acts, 354 
— for Christians, John xv., 184 


NEST—NUM. X. 


| NUM. I. 17, Ezekiel, 164 
















NICKNAME, Jesus had a, Jo! 
374 
NICODEMUS, John, 143, 154, 1 
—— and Joseph, John xv., 286 
‘NIGHT’ and ‘DAY,’ John i 
—— none in heaven, Epistles 
John, 368 
NINEVEH 
192 
‘NO,’ how to say, 0. Kings, 362 — 
when to say, Esther, 99 
NOAH, the covenant with, Gene 
62 








repentant, 

















faith of, Hebrews, 112 

—a solitary saint, Genesis, 48 

NONCONFORMIST, an ancie 
um. Kings, 361 

—— martyrs, Hebrews, 216 

Mordecai as, Esther, 1 

—— preachers and congregati 
Romans, 15 

—— teaching, Acts xiii., 40 

—— in Babylon, Ezekiel, 58 

NONCONFORMITY. See 
Free Churches 

a weakness of, 1. Kings, 88 

NON-RESISTANCE, Matthew, 2 

NOON-DAY SLEEPERS, Ephe 
sians, 318 

“NOT GUILTY,’ man’s plea 
Ezekiel, 326 

NOTHING BUT LEAVES, M 
thew ix., 127 

NOVELS and Bible-reading, 
othy, 311 

NOVELTY of life, Esther, 310 

NUMBERS, sacred, in Genesi 
Genesis, 58 



























NUM. IV. 23, Exodus, 297 
NUM. IX. 10, 11, m. Kings, 239 — 
16, Exodus, 297 

NUM. X. 29, Exodus, 314 


‘Te 


NUM. X.—OLD AGE 


119 





NUM. X. 35, 36, Exodus, 321 
NUM. XI. 14, Exodus, 329 
NUM. XIII. 17-33, Exodus, 332 
NUM. XIV. 1-10, Exodus, 340 
— 19, Exodus, 349 

NUM. XVII. 20, Psalms, 30 
NUM. XVIII. 7, Exodus, 352 
NUM. XX. 1-13, Exodus, 353 
NUM. XXI. 4-9, Exodus, 362 


OATH of Shechem, Deuteronomy, 
183 
OATHS, Christians and, Matthew, 
209 
OBADIAH, Samuel, 249 
and Ahab, u. Samuel, 250 
OBED-EDOM, Exodus, 54 





—the Ark in the house of, | 


Samuel, 21 
OBEDIENCE, absolute Christian, 
Acts xiii., 345 


—— brings knowledge, Genesis, 72 ; | 


Exodus, 311 
— Christ’s, nm. Corinthians, 258 
glad, Psalm li., 244 
— imperfect, Deuteronomy, 326 ; 
u. Kings, 13 
—— limits of civil, Acts, 147 
— and love, John ix., 312, 346 
— and obligations, 1. Corinth- 
ians, 140. 
— to parents, Exodus, 111 
purity by, Peter, 78 
— religion is, Matthew, 255 
reward of, Genesis, 57; Exo- 
dus, 284 
_— tested by, 1. Corinthians, 98 


— to Christ, m. Samuel, 91 











— to God first, Acts, 197 
*——, disobedient,’ Ezekiel, 73 


; 


NUM. XXI. 5, Philippians, 153 
NUM. XXII. 5, Exodus, 367 
NUM. XXIII. 10, Exodus, 371 
19, wu. Corinthians, 205; 
Ephesians, 54; Hebrews, 262 
NUM. XXIX. 12, Exodus, 263 
NUM. XXXI. 8, Exodus, 371 
NUM. XXXYV. 15-24, Deuteronomy, 
171 





0 


OBLIGATION, a Christian’s, & 
Timothy, 198 

—— of possession, m. Corinthians, 
183 

—— privilege and, Romans, 7 

OBSTINACY and God’s patienee, 
Deuteronomy, 196 

OFFERING, the burnt, a picture 
and a prophecy, Exodus, 233 

| —— of self, o. Kings, 162 

OFFERINGS, blemished, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 328 

—— small and large, n. Kings, 298 

systematic, mu. Kings, 20 

—— true, Exodus, 214 

| OFFICERS, purity of, Deuter- 

onomy, 312 








OFFICE-SEEKING, m1. Samuel, 86 

OFFICIALISM, John xv., 311 

— in church, Epistles of John, 
174 

OIL as symbol, Psalm li., 228 ; Acts, 
56 

— miracle of the, mn. Samuel, 
345 

and lamps, Matthew xviii., 182 

OIL-PRESS in Gethsemane, Mat- 
thew xviii., 261 

OLD AGE, a green, Deutercnomy, 
160 





120 


OLD HOUSE and the new, t. Cor- OPPORTUNITY for doing a 


inthians, 353 

OLD JUDGE and young king, the, 
Deuteronomy, 299 

‘OLD MAN,’ the, Epistles of John, 
235 

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, 
unity of, Leviticus, 56; Psalms, 
221 





—— — last words of, 

Ezekiel, 363 

—— —— relation 
John xv., 333 

OLD AND NEW GOSPEL, Peter, 
264 

OLD TESTAMENT, morality in, 
Genesis, 243 

Christ and the, Leviticus, 
291; Jeremiah, 290; John xyv., 
279; Acts, 253 

OLD TRUTH for a new epoch, 
Deuteronomy, 319 

OLD YEAR, sermon for the, Deuter- 
onomy, 153; uu. Corinthians, 109 

OLIVET, Christ’s ascension from, 
mu. Samuel, 323 

OMNIPOTENCE and 
Esther, 65 

— of faith, Mark ix., 22 

OMNIPRESENCE of God, Genesis, 
212 

OMRI, nm. Samuel, 230 

ONE FOLD and one Shepherd, 
Samuel, 1, 8 

ONESIPHORUS, 
396 

OPENNESS of Apostles, Acts, 141 

OPINION, common, and _ the 
Christian, Epistles of John, 80 

OPIUM traffic, n. Kings, 203 

OPPORTUNITY, day of, John ix., 5 


of, 





oo 





goodness, 


Deuteronomy, 


OLD HOUSE—OWNERSHIP 






















mm. Corinthians, 187 
OPPOSITION of good and 
ou. Samuel, 306 
—— to temple building, m. Kir 
291 
OPTIMISM, divine, Psalms, &§ 
Psalm li., 28; Isaiah, 29 
Ezekiel, 103 ; Mark ix., 146 
ORATOR, temperament of th 
Romans, 20 
ORATORIO, Isaiah’s, Isaiah, 1 — 
ORDER in universe, Isaiah, 265 
—and variety in service, 
Kings, 85 
ORDINANCES, the place of, 
Corinthians, 148 
ORGANIZATION, church, 
of, m. Kings, 87 
—— and life, Acts, 340 
ORIGINALITY, Christian, m. C 
inthians, 387 
—— of Jesus, John, 378 
ORPAH, Deuteronomy, 260 
ORTHODOXY and obedience, Ac 
xiii., 331 
‘OTHER SHEEP,’ John ix., 
OTHER-WORLDLINESS, Ezeki 
12; Hebrews, 9, 315 
‘OUGHT’ and ‘OWE,’ Mat 
273 
‘OUR FATHER,’ Matthew, 2 
OUR ROCK, their Rock 
Deuteronomy, 47 
OURSELVES, owing, to Chr 
u. Timothy, 196 
OUTSIDERS, the, Philippi 
144 
OWNER and his slaves, Peter, 21 
OWNERSHIP, God’s and maz 
Psalms, 33 


if 


EL 


PAIN, the mission of, Acts xiii., 
290 


PALACE, king’s coming to, Mat- 


thew xviii., 89 


PALM, bearing the, Epistles of 


_ John, 331 

PANOPLY of God, the, Ephe- 
sians, 337 

PARABLE in a miracle, Mark, 39 

PARABLES, miracles are, Mat- 
thew ix., 299, 374 

—of kingdom, 
201-261, 234 


Matthew ix., 


_— of lost things, Luke xiii., 49, 


59 

— three condensed, Luke, 131 

PARADISE regained, Genesis, 10, 
‘13; Isaiah, 62 

—— the true, Luke xiii., 316 

PARADOX of Love’s measure, 
Ephesians, 162 

— of selling and buying, Isaiah 
lix.: 71 

— oi the Christian life, m. Cor- 
inthians, 91 

PARDON, blessedness of, Psalms, 
203 

— David’s cry for, u. Samuel, 
69; Psalms, 1 

—— grounds of, un. Samuel, 79 

— a prayer for, Psalms, 130 

— and punishment, Samuel, 84 

—— revelation by, Psalms, 137, 

—— three aspects of, Psalm li., 7 

— what is it? Isaiah xlix., 348 


_PARDONER, Joseph as, Genesis, 


268 
PARENTS and children, Genesis, 
_ 90; Exodus, 110 


PAIN—PATCHWORK 


121 





P 


PARENTS, duty to Christ and, 
Matthew, 405 

honouring, Genesis, 265 

—— instruction by, Deuteronomy, 
122; Esther, 74 

— not to be despised, Genesis, 
271, 274 

PARTAKERS of the divine nature, 
Peter, 189 

PARTNERSHIP with God, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 30 

PASSING, the, and the PERMA- 
NENT, Esther, 297; Isaiah xlix., 
125 

PASSION, Christ foreseeing His, 
John ix., 392 

Week, Matthew xviii., 
225 

PASSIONS, man’s, Genesis, 240 

PASSOVER, Christ our, Exodus, 
41; John xv., 277 

deliverance by the, Isaiah, 

164 

an expiation, and a memorial 

and prophecy, Exodus, 38 

Hezekiah’s, mi. Kings, 238 

historical testimony of, Exo- 

dus, 45 

the new, Matthew xviii., 225 ; 

Mark ix., 175 

Sabbath of the, Hebrews, 376 

— symbol of the, Exodus, 44 

PAST, Christ’s light on a man’s, 
Acts xiii., 302 

and the future, Esther, 307 

—— the irrevocable, John xv., 266 

—— the, is living, Exodus, 116 

PATCHWORK, life a, 1 Corinth- 
ians, 41 








107, 


























122 


PATH—PAUL 





PATH, the Christian, Hebrews, 181 
the untrodden, Deuteronomy, 





99 

—— in the sea, a, Exodus, 52 

PATHS, the two, Esther, 96; Mat- 
thew, 342 

PATHWAY, the heavenly, Genesis, 
206 

‘PATIENCE, Epistles of John, 
159, 260 

— Christ’s, John xv., 129 

divine, uu. Samuel, 207; 

Esther, 369; Isaiah xlix., 245, 

360; Matthew ix., 238; Matthew 

xviii., 36, 272 

limits of, Esther, 371 

the work of, Hebrews, 351 

—— God’s, Deuteronomy, 192, 196 

—— joy, and hope, Romans, 278 

Noah’s, Genesis, 58, 59 

— with God, Psalms, 262 

worker's need of, Genesis, 
336; John ix., 73 

PATMOS, Genesis, 111 

PATRIARCHS, life of the, Genesis, 
38, 47 

PATRIOTISM, false, Isaiah xlix., 
322 

—— true, 1. Kings, 270 

PATTERN, Christ as, John ix., 
133, 189, 231 

—— of friendship, the, 254 

of life, the, Hebrews, 30, 33 

of manhood, u. Timothy, 224 

— of service, Mark, 273 

PAUL, ST., the aged, Exodus, 17 ; 
Acts, 217, 263 

and Aquila, Romans, 362 

— at Athens, Acts xiii., 138 

— before Agrippa, Acts xiii, 
322 

—— before the Council, Acts xiii., 
267 


























PAUL before Felix, Acts xiii., 28] 

—as chief of sinners, Ph 
pians, 328 

— Christ’s 
Saul, Acts xiii., 302 


remonstrances 





claims sustenance, 
pians, 58, 67 

— confidence of, Psalms, 213 

— at Corinth, Acts xiii., 148 

— on his conversion, Acts xi 
246 

—— dying confidence of, m. 
othy, 124 

— earliest teaching of, 
pians, 237 

—and his early work, 
217; Acts xiii., 7 

—and Epaphroditus, nm. 
inthians, 305 

— in Ephesus, Acts xiii, 168 
181, 187, 203 ; 

—— his estimate of himself, 1. Ce 
inthians, 216 

— first letters of, Philippians, 

glory by salvation of, Philip 

pians, 345 

and the Gospel, Romans, 32. 

— Gospel of, 1. Corinthians, 1§ 
Philippians, 175, 241 

—— greetings by, Philippians, 76 

—and James, teaching of, 
Corinthians, 102; Hebrews, 41 

— the last glimpse of, Acts xiii 
376 

—— at Lystra, Acts xiii., 69 

—new words in epistles 
I. Timothy, 27 

at Philippi, Acts xiii., 105 

—in prison, Acts xiii, If 
u. Timothy, 100 

—— personalreferences of, Rom 
14 

— in Rome, Acts xiii., 377, 383 














PAUL—PENTECOST 


PAUL, Peter, John, teaching of, 
Philippians, 242 
—placard by, u. Corinthians, 
101 
—— plot against, Acts xiii., 267 
—— prayers of, Philippians, 99 
protected, Acts xiii., 251 
—— and temperance, Ephesians, 
313 
—— in the Temple, Acts xiii., 240 
— shipwreck of, Acts, 363 
— and Silas, Acts xiii., 114 
theme of, 1. Corinthians, 19 
—— and Timothy, u. Corinthians, 
295; 1. Timothy, 1,7; uo. Tim- 
othy, 95 
—— voyage of, Acts xiii., 215, 349, 
364 
— why Saul became, Acts xiii., 
7 
PEACE, Psalms, 329; Ephesians, 
381 
——at any price, 
Genesis, 201 
—— the bond of, Romans, 287 
— Christ the Lord of, John ix., 
372; Philippians, 291 
— the Christian’s, 1. Samuel, 96 
— divine, Isaiah xlix., 129 
false, John ix., 377; Philip- 
pians, 288 
fiom righteousness, Hebrews, 2 
go into, Luke, 210 
God of, Romans, 389; Philip- 
pians, 40 
by the Gospel, Ephesians, 354 
grace and, Epistles of John, 47 
—— the grasp that brings, Isaiah, 
/ ebal 
—— joy and, Romans, 344 
—— and knowledge, Esther, 49 
legacy of, John ix., 262 
Lord of, Philippians, 288 








Apostle of, 





























123 


PEACE, mercy, grace, Epistles of 
John, 49 

— our need of, Philippians, 289 

perfect, Psalms, 263 

and pleasure, nm. Samuel, 286 

—— by trust, Psalm li., 343 

and righteousness, Psalm li, 

149 

river of, Isaiah, 336 

second; righteousness first, 

Hebrews, 1 

the secret of, Genesis, 211; 
Romans, 60 

—— source of, Deuteronomy, 226 

and victory, John xv., 179 

—— the warrior, Philippians, 39 

PEACE-BRINGER in the natural 
world, Matthew, 412 

in spiritual world, Mat- 
thew, 416 

PEACE-OFFERING, the eating of 
the, Deuteronomy, 15 





























PEACEABLENESS, Christian, 
Romans, 298 

PEACEFULNESS' by Christ, 
Isaiah, 113 


PEACEMAKERS, blessedness of, 
Matthew, 161 

PEARL and treasure, Matthew ix., 
251 

PEARLS, a string of, Esther, 220 

PEASANT - PROPRIETORSHIP, 
Esther, 176 

PENALTY, escaping, Ephesians, 
115 

remission of, Psalm li., 221 

— silence as, I. Corinthians, 137 

PENITENCE, motives to, Psalms, 
286; Psalm li., 12. See also Re- 
pentance 

PENSIONERS, God’s, Psalm li, 
386 

PENTECOST, Day of, Acts, 42 





124 


PENTECOST, the first, Ezckiel, 
198 

PENTATEUCH, accuracy of the, 
Exodus, 120 

PEOPLE, the King ‘blessing’ his, 
Samuel, 175 

‘PERFECT,’ Ephesians, 220 

— are Christians, m. Corinthians, 
370, 389 

PERFECTED and sanctified, He- 
brews, 84 

PERFECTER of faith, Hebrews, 
199 

PERFECTION, Christian, Esther, 
lll 

—— commanded, Genesis, 120 

—and conflict, uo. Corinthians, 
160 

final, Epistles of John, 111 

— guaranteed, nu. Timothy, 64 

—— heavenly, Psalms, 13 

— of the holy dead, Mark ix., 
261 

—— passion for, u. Timothy, 187 

—— and the sense of imperfection, 
u. Corinthians, 373, 389 

— of the soul, m. Corinthians, 369 

PERILS and defence of a widened 
mission, Matthew ix., 74 

PERISHING, or being saved, 1. 
Corinthians, 10 

PERJURY. Exodus, 104 

PERMANENCE of Christian’s pos- 
sessions, Hebrews, 97, 104 

of graces, 1. Corinthians, 187 

—— what has, Isaiah xlix., 125 

—— of sin’s record, Isaiah, 319 

PERPETUAL YOUTH, Mark ix., 
258 

PERPLEXITY, Herod’s, Luke 
xiii., 288 

PERSECUTION at Philippi, Acts 
xdii., 114 








PENTECOST—PETER 


PERSECUTION, modern, 
174 
—— for righteousness, 
171 . 
—— at Thessalonica, Acts xiii., 
—— of apostles, Acts, 179; 
xiii., 66 
—— of Christians, Epistles of Joh 
157 : 
—— of early Church, Acts, 129 
—— of the faithful, John, 376 
—— rejoicing in, Peter, 25 
—— results of, Acts, 236 
PERSEVERANCE, hope 
Romans, 334, 336 
PERSIS, Romans, 380 
PERSIST and resist, Peter, 271 
PERSISTENCE in good, u. King 
212 * 
——of thwarted love, Matth 
xviii., 29 
PERSON, human contact with 
divine, m. Samuel, 245 
PERSONAL ALLUSIONS, 
preacher's, 1. Corinthians, 19; 1 
Corinthians, 287; Philippian 
326 
PERSONAL CONTACTin 
work, 1. Kings, 353 
PERSONALITY, significance 
Luke xiii., 198 
PERSONS of the Deity, John x 
69 
PETER, ST., Mark, 109; John 
338 
—— after his escape, Acts, 394 
—— alone with Jesus, Luke xii 
362 
—an angel delivers, Gen 
218; Acts, 373, 380 
—— Apologia by, Acts, 310 
— asleep, Mark ix., 192 
— character of, Luke, 111 





















PETER, Christ’s message to, Mark 
ix., 254, 284 

— confesses Christ. Matthew ix., 
322 

— in court, John xv., 232 

—— in prison, 1. Samuel, 185 

— converted, Mark ix., 298 

—— denying Christ, Peter, 223 

— epistles of, Mark ix., 299 

— faith of, Genesis, 203 - 

fall of, Luke xiii., 265 

first sermon by, Acts, 59 








—and forgiveness, Matthew 
Xvili., 37 
—wife’s mother of, healed, 


Matthew, 386; Mark, 32 
— and James, Acts, 369 
—and John at Christ’s grave, 
John xv., 303 
— and the lame man, Acts, 98 
—— later history of, John xv., 394 
—— on the waves, Matthew ix., 305 
—— his name, Genesis, 229 
— his notion of Christian life, 
Peter, 2 
— questions by, John ix., 237 
— questioned and restored, John 
XV., o72 
— rashness of, Mark ix., 207 
— sermon by, Acts. 190 
— sermon by, to Gentiles, Acts, 
306 
—— sober certainty of, Acts, 383 
—— testimony of, Peter, 146 
—— testing and recovery of, Luke 
xiii., 241 
— transformation of, Acts, 121 
—— his view of death, Peter, 206 
-— vision of, Acts, 295 
I. PETER I. 1, Peter, 1 
=———3, John xv., 297;  Philip- 
pians, 97; wu. Timothy, 368; 
Peter, 19 





PETER—I. PETER IV. 





125 





J. PETER. I. 4, Ephesians, 66 

—— 5, Esther, 116; Matthew ix., 
309; 1. Corinthians, 292; Peter, 
19, 82; Epistles of John, 
113 

— 6, Peter, 17 

—— 7, Peter, 27 

8, u. Kings, 308; John, 49; 

Peter, 34; 1. Corinthians, 311 

9, Peter, 11 

— 10, Peter, 41, 231 

— 11, Romans, 308; Peter, 41 

— 12, Peter, 41 

13, Philippians, 99; uo. Tim- 

othy, 376; Peter, 51 

15, Peter, 61 

17, u. Corinthians, 8; 

brews, 251; Peter, 69 

19, Exodus, 40; Hebrews, 88 ; 
Peter, 220, 230 

—— 22, Peter, 76 

25, Hebrews, 37 

I, PETER II. 4, Peter, 86 

— 5, u. Kings, 160; 1 
inthians, 53; Peter, 86, 92 

6, Exodus, 321; John, 336 

—— 9, Deuteronomy, 30; Hebrews, 
332; Peter, 2, 101 

—— 10, Peter, 1 

—— 21, Peter, 107 

—— 23, Deuteronomy, 365; Peter, 
149 

—— 24, Isaiah xlix., 25; Romans, 
98; 1. Corinthians, 229; Philip- 
pians, 242; wu. Timothy, 236; 
Hebrews, 66, 58, 73 

I. PETER III. 13, Deuteronomy, 
210; Psalm li., 232 

—— 14, Peter, 116 

I. PETER IV. 1-8, Peter, 123 

—— 2-3, Esther, 307 

—— 17, Mark, 5 

—— 19, m. Timothy, 17, 60, 62 

















He- 








Cor- 





126 


I. PETER V.—PHIL. IL. 





L PETER V. 5, Peter, 130 

—— 12, Peter, 138, 146 

—— 13, Peter, 154, 161 

IL PETER I. 1, Peter, 170 

— 3, Philippians, 260 

—— 4, Peter, 189 

— 5, Philippians, 119; 
178, 198 

—— 7, John ix., 231 

— 10, Luke xiii., 182; wm. Cor- 
inthians, 273; Philippians, 119 

— ll, Leviticus, 169; Psalms, 
315; Romans, 170;. 14 Cor- 
inthians, 47; Philippians, 179; 
Peter, 206 

— 15, Peter, 206 

—— 19, Ephesians, 380 

IL PETER IL. 1, Peter, 215 

—— 19, Ephesians, 236 

I. PETER III. 4, nm. Kings, 72 

—— 8, Genesis, 337 

— 9, Acts xiii., 110 

— 13, Peter, 226 

— 14, u. Timothy, 111; 
224 

—— 18, Peter, 234 

PHARAOH, daughter of, rescues 
Moses, Exodus, 12, 15 

error of, Esther, 367 

— heart of, hardened, Exodus, 36 

PHARISEE and publican, the, 
Luke xiii., 134 

—and a sinful woman, Luke, 
189, 199 : 

PHARISEES, the, Matthew xviii., 
135, 140 

and Christ, Mark, 106; Luke 
xiii., 310; John ix., 40 

—— and God's purposes, Luke, 176 

—— and Sabbath, Matthew ix., 
163 

PHILADELPHIA, the Church in, 
Epistles of John, 259, 267 


Peter, 


Peter, 








PHILEMON 8, Ephesians, 39 
—— 9, m. Kings, 21; Acts, 217 4 
—— 19, m. Timothy, 196 
PHILIP, the disciple, Mark, 11 
265; John, 73; John xv., 348 
—— and the eunuch, Acts, 249 
—as evangelist, Acts, 255 
Acts xiii., 222 
—— the request of, John ix., 291 
PHILIPPI, Paul and Silas at, A 
xiii., 105, 116 
— riot at, Acts xiii., 114 
PHILIPPIANS as citizens, m. Ce 
inthians, 233 
— Paul and the, m. Corin’ 
200; Philippians, 1 
PHIL. L. 1, um. Corinthians, 
271 
—— 2-4, m. Corinthians, 200 
—— 5,1. Corinthians, 200; P 
pians, 28 
—— 6, Exodus, 63; um. Corinthians, 
200 
—— 7, 8, 1. Corinthians, 200 
—— 9-11, m. Corinthians, 206 
—— 12-20, o. Corinthians, 211 — 


Epistles of John, 191 
— 23, wu. Corinthians, 
Epistles of John, 337 
—— 24, 1. Corinthians, 219 
—— 25, u. Corinthians, 219, 29: 
— 27, wu. Corinthians, 2 
Philippians, 174 
—— 28, m1. Corinthians, 233 
PHIL. II. 1-4, m. Corinthians, 24 
—— 5, Romans, 287 
—— 6-8, um. Corinthians, 253 
—— 9,11. Corinthians, 260; Phi 
pians, 339; Peter,,352; Epist 
of John, 63 
— 10, u. Corinthians, 260 


PHIL. Il.—PHYLACTERIES 


127 





PHIL. II. 11, u. Corinthians, 260 

— 12,10. Kings, 323; Acts, 380; 
wu. Corinthians, 268; Ephesians, 
257, 281 

——13, uo. Kings, 29; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 369; wu. Corinthians, 
173, 268, 283; Ephesians, 268 ; 
Philippians, 228; Epistles of 
John, 107 

—— 14, nm. Corinthians, 281 

—— 15, m0. Corinthians, 281 


——16, Exodus, 140; wm. Cor- 
-inthians, 281, 287 
——17, mw. Corinthians, 287; 


Philippians, 28 

—— 18, uo. Corinthians, 287 

— 19-24, m. Corinthians, 295 

—— 20, 1. Corinthians, 172 

—— 25, m. Corinthians, 305 

PHIL. III. 1-3, o. Corinthians, 

mol) 

— 4, 5, n. Corinthians, 321 

— 6, . Corinthians, 317, 321 

—— 7, u. Corinthians, 321; Ephe- 
sians, 333 

—— 8, Deuteronomy, 264; un. 
Kings, 206; 1. Corinthians, 321 ; 
Ephesians, 219 

— 9, Isaiah, 307 ; o. Corinthians, 
328, 363; wu. Timothy, 111; 
Hebrews, 10 

— 10, 1. Corinthians, 317; a. 
Corinthians, 336, 352; Philip- 
pians, 143; Hebrews, 90 

— ll, u. Corinthians, 336 

— 12, Mark ix., 261; Acts, 343; 

irr. Corinthians, 348, 361, 373; 
Philippians, 
Peter, 135 

—— 13, Psalm li., 118; John, 339; 
wu. Corinthians, 359, 390; Philip- 
‘pians,7 ; Hebrews, 355; Epistles 

_ of John, 216 


120, 367, 386; 


PHIL. III. 14, Genesis, 120; m. 
Corinthians, 359; Ephesians, 196 

— 15, u. Corinthians, 359 

—— 16-19, nu. Corinthians, 391 

— 20, n. Corinthians, 391; Eph- 
esians, 118; Hebrews, 242, 322 

21, 1. Corinthians, 247, 320; 
wm. Corinthians, 381, 391; Philip- 
pians, 8 

PHIL. IV. 1, Philippians, 1 

— 3, Exodus, 176; Luke, 228; 
Philippians, 11 

— 4, Genesis, 285; wa. Kings, 
307, 378, 384; Ezekiel, 248; 
1. Corinthians, 84, 85; Philip- 
pians, 21, 59, 234; Peter, 41 

6, 1. Corinthians, 125; Philip- 
pians, 31, 46; Epistles of John, 
52 

— 7, Deuteronomy, 230; Ephe- 








sians, 359; Philippians, 39; 
Peter, 7 
—— 8, Ezekiel, 138; John ix., 


287; wu. Corinthians, 141, 211; 
Ephesians, 114, 229, 294; Philip- 
pians, 48, 88, 126; wm. Tim- 
othy, 190 

— 10-12, Philippians, 58 

—— 13, Mark ix., 30; Philippians, 
58 

— 15, Acts xiii., 150; 
pians, 66 

16, 17, Philippians, 66 

— 18, Exodus, 163; Philippians, 
66, 383 ; Peter, 100 

19, Genesis, 112; 
pians, 66, 75 

—— 20-23, Philippians, 74 

PHILISTINES, envy of, Genesis, 
203 

PHBE, Romans, 352 

PHYLACTERIES, Jewish, Exodus, 
47 


Philip- 








Philip- 


128 


‘PHYSICIANS of no value,’ Eze- 
kiel-Malachi, 108 

PICTURE, a dark, and a bright 
hope, Ephesians, 233 

PICTURES, teaching by, Genesis, 22 

PIETY and prosperity, Esther, 37, 
49 

PILATE, Pontius, Hebrews, 232 

— Christ and, Mark ix., 219; 
Luke xiii., 281, 296; John xv., 
239; Philippians, 371 

—— guilt of, Matthew xviii., 304, 
311 

—— vacillation of, John xv., 244 

— wife of, Matthew xviii., 314 

—— writing by, John xv., 266 

PILGRIM, the Christian as, He- 
brews, 135 

happy, Psalms, 130 

PILGRIMAGE, life a, Genesis, 274, 
277, 319; Exodus, 82, 274; 
Psalms, 276; Psalm li., 303 

PILLAR, the Christian as a, 
Epistles of John, 276 

the guiding, Exodus, 53, 305; 
Isaiah, 12; John, 322, 329 

PITY, divine, Isaiah, 5 

PLACARD, Paul’s, u. Corinthians, 
101 

PLAIN LIVING and high thinking, 
Ezekiel, 47 

PLANTS, dew on the, HEzekiel- 
Malachi, 134 

PLEADINGS, God’s patient, Isaiah 
xlix., 245, 379 

PLEAS and prayer, Hebrews, 342 

PLEASING Christ, 1. Corinthians, 
361 

PLEASURE and peace, u. Samuel, 
286 

—— fading, Isaiah, 133 

PLEIADES, the, Genesis, 87 

PLOT detected, a, Acts xiii., 267 








PHYSICIANS—POSSESSION 


PLOUGHING, the divine, 
153 


POET and prophet, Isaiah, 80 

























POETRY, Biblical imagina 
Ezekiel, 238 
—— prophetic, Isaiah, 216 
POISON and the antidote, 
Exodus, 362 
cure of sin’s, Esther, 379 
POLICY, Paul’s, as pi 
Romans, 30 
POLITICAL RELIGION, 
222 
POLITICIAN, a holy, m. Kings, 
POLITICS and religion, . 
223 
—— saintly, Genesis, 273 
—— selfish, Exodus, 4 
— sins in, Exodus, 92 
POLYGAMY, Genesis, 241 : 
POLYTHEISM, condemnation 
Exodus, 100; Deu 
280; mm. Kings, 277 
—— traditions of, Genesis, 37, 
POMPEII and Sodom, Genesis, 
POOR, the, may be noble, Luke, 
—— remembering the, UO. 
inthians, 21 36 
— rich, the and the rich 
Esther, 163; uo. Corinthians, 
—— the tillage of the, Esther, 
PORTION, God is the 
Isaiah xlix., 269 
PORTRAIT of bride, Psalms, 
—— of a matron, Esther, 288 
POSITIVENESS of Christian 
mu. Corinthians, 5 
POSSESSING and _ possessed, 
iah xlix., 268 
POSSESSION and insanity, 
onomy, 352 








a a rr re OR ace re i 


1. . 
POSSESSIONS—PRAYER 


129 





POSSESSION S, Christian, unused, 


Ephesians,13, 44 
— the true, Hebrews, 92, 98 


-——  unpossessed, Samuel, 296 


POTTAGE versus Birthright, Gene- 
sis, 198 

POTTERS, the King’s, u. Kings, 74 
POUNDS, parable of the, Luke 
xiii., 164 

POVERTY, Christ’s, Luke, 220 
— our universal, Esther, 164 
POWER for the powerless, John, 
237 

— and form, u. Timothy, 86 
— measure of immeasurable, 
Ephesians, 72 

—— measureless, and glory, Ephe- 
sians, 180 

— of diligence, Peter, 198 


-— of feeble faith, Mark, 199 


—of God is personal, Isaiah 
xlix., 89 
— of the Name, Acts, 111 


— of Resurrection, 1. Corinthians, 


195 
— of righteousness, u. Samuel, 
284 
— the secret of, Matthew ix., 352 
— source of, Ezekiel-Malachi, 294 
— the spirit of, u. Kings, 24 


-PRACTICE, worship and, Hebrews, 


402 
PRAISE and blessedness, Psalms, 1 
—— brings victory, u. Kings, 174 
— cause for, Philippians, 351 
— the Church’s duty of, um. Kings, 
83; Isaiah xlix., 190 
— a duty, Psalm li., 351 
— God desires, Psalms, 10 
— power of holy, Psalm li., 65 
— sacrifice of, Peter, 96 
PRAY, where and how to, Philip- 
pians, 353 


PRAYER addressed to Christ, 1. 
Corinthians, 3; Philippians, 269 
and afflictions, 0. Corinthians, 





75 
, —— how answered, Isaiah, 243 
is answered, Esther, 57 
and anxiety, Philippians, 37 
arrows of, Psalms, 159 
—— Asa’s, 0. Kings, 139 
by Christ, Isaiah xlix., 18, 64; 
Mark, 275; Mark ix., 2, 190; 
John ix., 321 
— Christ’s wonderful, John xyv., 
206 
—— the Church’s necessity, Isaiah 
xlix., 63 
— climax of all, Ephesians, 171 
comprehensive, u. Cor- 
inthians, 206 
and confidence, Psalm li., 42 
continual, Philippians, 230 
and Christian graces, Romans, 
280 
— early Christians and, Acts, 87 
and its effects, Philippians, 229 
forms of, Matthew, 235 
—— high priest’s, John xv., 203 
—— how answered, Psalm li., 166 
—— imperfect, heard, Genesis, 147 
— importunate, Genesis, 126, 
129, 141; Isaiah xlix., 208 
incense of, Psalm li., 369 
—— intercessory, Exodus, 190 
—— kinds of, Luke xiii., 131 
place of, in Christian life, 
Exodus, 166 
—— Jehoshaphat’s, 0. Kings, 170 
logic of, Psalms, 164 
—— the mediator’s threefold, Exo- 
dus, 186 
method of, m1. Kings, 329 
for pardon, Psalms, 130 
—— particulars in, Isaiah, 238, 242 
1 

















———— ie 








| 
































130 


PRAYER, Paul’s, Ephesians, 151 

—— persistance in, Genesis, 230 

—— petulant, Genesis, 126 

—— place and manner of, Philip- 
pians, 353 

and power, Mark, 277 

for preachers, Psalm li., 356 

—— prisoners and, Acts, 374 

—— repetitions in, Matthew, 224 

— and revelation, Psalms, 167 

for sanctity, Psalm li., 25 

— Scripture quotations in, um. 
Kings, 332 

— solitary, Matthew, 226 

— and speculation, Esther, 67 

—— structure of the Lord’s, Mat- 
thew, 228 

— and transfiguration, Luke, 277 

—— three kinds of, Luke xiii., 131 

— triumphant, Isaiah xlix., 281 

— what it is, Exodus, 160 

— what to ask in, Psalm li., 162 

and work, Isaiah xlix., 210 

PRAYERS, great, Hebrews, 342 

the prayer of, Psalm li., 376 

unanswered, Genesis, 128 

* PREACH,’ Ezekiel, 190 

PREACHER, advice of an aged, 
Romans, 43 

PREACHERS and congregations, 
Romans, 15 

PREACHING at Antioch, first, 
Acts, 315 

at Nazareth, Luke, 85 

— in Asia Miuor, first, Acts xiii., 
27 

—— pointed, Epistles of John, 274 

—— righteousness, Luke, 76 

PRECEDENCE in the kingdom, 
law of, Matthew xviii., l 

PRECEPT, the great Christian, 
Epistles of John, 98 

*PRECIOUS,’ Peter, 171 























PRAYER—PRIESTHOOD 













PREPARATIONS for a 
work, Samuel, 166 
PREPARING to end, a. Corin ] 
ians, 311 
PRESENCE, the Bread of 
Exodus, 126 
—— of God, practice of the, P 


PRESERVATION and creatic 
John xv., 362 
PRESERVER, Joseph, the 
doner and, Genesis, 268 
PRESUMPTION, Psalms, 27 
—— unbelief, and faith, Ezekiel, 
—— in sin, Psalms, 77 . 
PRETENDERS, Christ and, 
ix., 152 


_ 


PREVISION, Christ’s, John, 134 © 
PRIDE and Christian submissic 


Acts xiii., 342 

crown of, Isaiah, 132 

— worthy, Romans, 398 
PRIEST, Christ as, Mark ix., 312 











we need a, Hebrews, 10 
PRIESTS, Christianity has 
u. Samuel, 365 
—— and kings, Epistles of John, 
135 
—— as reformers, 1. Kings, 233 _ 
—— warriors and, Isaiah xlix., 79 
watching, Psalm li., 349 
PRIESTHOOD of believers, Exe 
dus, 298, 352; um. Samuel, 398 
Psalms, 31; Isaiah, 254; Isai 
xlix., 77; Acts xiii., 40; Epis’ 
of John, 140 
—— universal idea of, Ezekiel, ¢ 





_ PROCLAMATION, 


PRIME MINISTER—PROPHETS 


131 





PRIME MINISTER, Joseph the, | PROMISES, firmness of God’s, 


Genesis, 253 

PRINCE, Jesus a, Acts, 186 

— of life, Matthew xviii., 350 

— of this world, John xv., 107 

PRISCILLA and Aquila, Romans, 
357 

PRISON, the universal, m. Corinth- 
ians, 117 

Paul in, Acts xiii., 194 

— Peter’s deliverance from, Acts, 
373 

PRISONER, John Baptist as, Luke, 
156 

Paul as, 1m. Corinthians, 297 

—— dying thoughts of a, u. Tim- 
othy, 100 

— triumph of a, a. Corinthians, 
211 

PRIVILEGE and obligation, Mat- 
thew ix., 140; Romans, 6 








PROBATION, close of man’s, 
Psalms, 53 
PROCESSION, the triumphal, 


I. Corinthians, 296 

the great, 
Isaiah xlix., 142 

PRODIGAL SON, m. Samuel, 76 

— gifts to the, Luke xiii., 65 

—— and his father, Luke xiii., 59 

PRODIGALITY of Love, John ix., 
119 

PROFANITY, Exodus, 104 

PROGRESS, Christian, 
pians, 124 

— in Christian life, Esther, 109; 
Hebrews, 183; Epistles of John, 
215, 244 

— the goal of, Ephesians, 216 

tational, Acts xili., 277 

—— in holiness, Peter, 259 

PROMISES, ancient, transferred, 
Isaiah, 252, 280 


Philip- 





Deuteronomy, 161; wu. Samuel, 
384 

— of God are tests, Psalm li., 
292 

—— our warranty, Mark ix.,.32 

and threatenings, Samuel, 189 

—— and warnings, Luke xiii., 217 

PROPERTY, God’s, and ours, 
Exodus, 35, 45, 62 

PROPHECY of the burnt-offering, 
Exodus, 233 

— Christ and Cross in, Peter, 42 

and history, Matthew, 31 

last word of, Ezekiel-Malachi, 

342 

New Testament 

Romans, 255 

in the Scriptures, Genesis, 168 

PROPHET, the child, Deuter- 
onomy, 267 

— Christ the, Deuteronomy, 18 ; 
Luke xiii., 193 ; John, 138 

— the Christian as, Psalms, 229 

the cleansed and commissioned, 

Isaiah, 23 

herdsman as, 
165 

—— indictment by a, Isaiah, 1 

making of a, Isaiah, 36 

— a penitent, Ezekiel, 190 

—— and poet, Isaiah, 80 

and righteous man, Matthew 
ix., 111 

—— Samuel as, Deuteronomy, 320 

—— an unconscious, John ix., 114 

treatment of, Isaiah xiix., 361 

‘PROPHETS,’ Ephesians, 119, 124 

PROPHE'S, Jesus Christ and the, 
Deuteronomy, 17; Matthew ix., 
193 

—— in Old Testament, Luke, 24 

woes of, Isaiah, 13 














of, 


gift 











Ezekiel, 157, 














182 


PROSPECT, Paul’s heavenly, m. 
Timothy, 109 

PROSPERITY, Old Testament 
teaching on, Genesis, 86; Uw. 
Kings, 305 

—— of soul, Epistles of John, 54 

— of the wicked, Psalm li., 108 

—— and piety, Esther, 37, 49 

PROTEST, duty of, Epistles of 
John, 310 

PROTESTANTISM and national 
decline, u. Kings, 70 

PROVERBS, a bundle of, Esther, 
204 

— Book of, Matthew ix., 198 

PROV. IL. 1-19, Esther, 71 

—— 24, Matthew xviii., 35 

—— 20-33, Esther, 77 

— 28, Esther, 132; Psalms, 154 

PROV. III. 1-10, Esther, 84 

—— 5, Esther, 120 

— 11-24, Esther, 88 

—— 17, Romans, 293 

PROV. IV. 10-19, Esther, 98 

—— 12, Esther, 101 

— 18, Deuteronomy, 222; 
Kings, 214; Esther, 108, 367 

—— 23, u. Samuel, 117; Esther, 
116; Peter, 120 

PROV. V. 22, Esther, 123 

PROV. VI. 6, Esther, 272 

PROV. VIIL. 17, Hebrews, 111 

—— 21, Esther, 130 

— 30, 31, Esther, 136 

PROV. IX. 10, Mark, 121 

—— 12, un. Corinthians, 176 

PROV. X. 4, Peter, 206 

—— 29, Esther, 143 

PROV. XI. 24, Matthew ix., 296; 
uu. Timothy, 43 

— 26, nu. Samuel, 389; Isaiah, 
255 

—— 31, Esther, 128 


i. 


PROSPECT—PROV. XXVIII. 


PROV. XII. 1-15, Esther, 155 

PROV. XIIL 7, Esther, 163 

—— 23, Esther, 173 

PROV. XIV. 4, m. Kings, 89 

—— 9, Esther, 181 

—— 13, Esther, 187; John 
149; 1. Timothy, 289 

—— 14, Esther, 191; John, 31 
Philippians, 62; Hebrews, 93 

—— 32, Esther, 42, 252 

—— 34, Isaiah, 17 

PROV. XVI. 2, Esther, 195 

—— 7, Ezekiel, 83 

—— 8, Matthew, 134 

—— 22, 23, Esther, 204 

PROV. XVIII. 9, Philippians, 11’ 

—— 10, Esther, 210; Peter, 13 

—— 11, Esther, 210 

PROV. XX. 1-7, Esther, 220 

—— 4, Esther, 226 










PROV. XXI. 26, Matthew xviii., 
PROV. XXIII. 2, John, 
Philippians, 204 
7, 1. Corinthians, 255 ; 
pians, 54; Peter, 326 
15-23, Esther, 240 
—— 17, 18, Esther, 247 
—— 26, m. Samuel, 181 
—— 29-35, Esther, 256 
—— 32, John, 123 
PROV. XXIV. 11, 12, Esther, 
— 30, 31, Esther, 269 
PROV. XXV. 18, Exodus, 113 
—— 25, Philippians, 316 
— 28, Deuteronomy, 7 
Esther, 274; Philippians, 50 
PROV. XXVII. 3, Esther, 279 
PROV. XXVIII. 1, Deu r 
249; u. Samuel, 388 
—— 7, Esther, 117 
—— 14, u. Timothy, 94 








PROV. XXIX.—PSALM XIX. 


133 





PROV. XXIX. 1, Deuteronomy, 
330, 403; Ezekiel, 68 

PROV. XXX. 4, Genesis, 209 

PROY. XXXI. 10-31, Esther, 288 

— ll, John, 282 

PROVIDENCE, divine, 
267 


Genesis, 


at work, Exodus, 17 

—— —— in history, Exodus, 59 

-—— Esther and, Esther, 28 

the march of, Genesis, 128 

—— mysteries of, Esther, 66 

— is partial revelation, Isaiah, 
328 

—— problems of, 
212 

—— restraining, Psalms, 81 

— scheme of, Matthew, 321 

— timeliness of, Genesis, 170, 218 

— vindicated, Esther, 69 

wrongly interpreted, Esther, 
35, 37 

PRUDENCE and faith, o. Kings, 
199; Luke xiii., 223 

PSALM, David’s last, Samuel, 125 

PSALM I., Esther, 157 

—— l, Psalms, 1 

— 2, Psalms, 1; 
331; Hebrews, 70 

— 3, Isaiah, 11; Isaiah xlix., 303 

PSALM ITI. 1, Acts xiii., 30, 302 

—— 3, Isaiah xlix., 347 

— 4, Matthew, 26 

— 12, Matthew xviii., 106 

PSALM IV. 6, Esther, 131; 
Psalms, 220; John xv., 136; 
mu. Timothy, 20 

— 7, John xv., 136 

 — 8, Genesis, 221 

PSALM V. 11, Psalms, 16; Acts, 
133 

—— 12, Deuteronomy, 62; Psalms, 
16 








Deuteronomy, 





u. Timothy, 





PSALM VII., Deuteronomy, 365 

— 15, Esther, 207 

PSALM VIIL. 4, nm. Timothy, 229 

—— 5, Ephesians, 78 

— 6, 0. Corinthians, 265 

PSALM X. 6, Psalms, 23; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 286 

PSALM XI., Ezekiel, 52 

PSALM XYV., Isaiah, 195 

— 4, Psalm li., 267 

—— 6, Deuteronomy, 29 

PSALM XVI. 5, Psalms, 30 

—— 7, u. Kings, 160 

— 8, Psalms, 23, 43; John ix., 
381; John xv., 125; Romans, 
273; Hebrews, 303 

—— 9, Deuteronomy, 59 

— 10, Romans, 93; 1 Cor- 
inthians, 293 ; uo. Timothy, 24 

—— 11, Psalms, 43 

—— 15, Deuteronomy, 29 

PSALM XVII. 15, Psalms, 50, 52; 
Tsaiah xlix., 267; 1. Corinthians, 
213; Ephesians, 212; Philip- 
pians, 195; Epistles of John, 376 

PSALM XVIII, mo. Samuel, 121; 
Ezekiel, 239 

1, Ephesians, 364 

2, Genesis, 296; 1. Kings, 144; 

Esther, 218 

16, Exodus, 19; 
208; Acts xiii., 370 

— 25, m1. Samuel, 27 

—— 26, u. Kings, 105; Isaiah, 56 

— 33, Esther, 104 

—— 34, Genesis, 287 

PSALM XIX. 3, uo. Corinthians, 
286; Philippians, 169, 352 

—— 4, Philippians, 378 

— 7, Hebrews, 390 

— 11, Hebrews, 395 

— 12, Psalms, 68 

—— 13, Psalms, 76 











Psalm li, 


134 


PSALM XXII. 26, Psalms, 86 

PSALM XXIII. 1, Deuteronomy, 
49; Psalms, 95, 371; John ix., 
34; Philippians, 74 

— 2, Exodus, 62; Psalms, 95; 
John ix., 42 

—— 3, Psalms, 95 

— 4, Psalms, 95; John ix., 34; 
Philippians, 216 

—— 5, Exodus, 72; Psalms, 95 

— 6, Genesis, 180; Psalms, 95 

PSALM XXIV., Isaiah, 195 

— 3, Psalms, 105; Isaiah, 38 

—— 4, Matthew xviii., 348 

—— 7, Deuteronomy, 134; Psalms, 
112; Epistles of John, 307 

—— 10, Psalms, 112 

PSALM XXV. 8-9, Psalms, 122 

—— 11, Psalms, 130 

— ]4, Genesis, 130, 253; 
brews, 426 

PSALM XXVI. 6, Philippians, 
358 

PSALM XXVII. 1, Samuel, 53; 
Peter, 121 

— 4, Psalms, 141; Luke, 66; 
1. Corinthians, 152; wu. Cor- 
inthians, 363; Philippians, 280 ; 
Hebrews, 239 

8, Psalms, 148, 195; Psalm li., 
195; Peter, 189; Hebrews, 110 

—— 9, Exodus, 87; Deuteronomy, 
15; Psalms, 148; Isaiah xlix., 
169; Philippians, 274 

14, Deuteronomy, 94; 4. 
Samuel, 52; Matthew ix., 8; 
1. Corinthians, 284 

PSALM XXIX. 10, Genesis, 58 

PSALM XXX. 11, Psalm. li, 1 

— 5, Psalms, 156; Romans, 395 

— 6, Psalms, 23 

— 7, Deuteronomy, 62; Psalms, 
27 


He- 








PSALM XXII.—PSALM XXXVII. 





PSALM XXXI. 2-3, coageda 164 _— 

—— 5, Psalms, 170; om. hy 
19 

—— 6, Ezekiel, 187 

—— 15, u. Kings, 110 

—— 19, Psalms, 179; 





8, Deuteronomy, 56; 

sians, 300 : 

9, o. Timothy, 388; Pete 
271 

PSALM XXXIII. 9, Luke, 99 

PSALM XXXIV. 5, Genesis, 3 
Mark ix., 37; Hebrews, 288 

6, Philippians, 323; um. Tin 
othy, 25 

—— 7, Psalms, 206; Peter, 13 

—— 8, John, 61 

— 10, Psalms, 213; John 
147 

—— 16, Esther, 146 

—— 22, Psalms, 220 

PSALM XXXV. 8, Psalm li., 369 

PSALM XXXVI. 5, Psalms, 227 

— 6, Psalms, 227; Epistles 
John, 349 

—— 7, Psalms, 227 

—— 8, Psalms, 227; Philipp ns 
314 

—— 9, Psalms, 227; wu. Corint 
ians, 221 

PSALM XXXVII. 4, Genesis, 219 
m. Samuel, 157; Esther, 56, 58 
Psalms, 252; John xv., 147 
1. Corinthians, 340; Philippians 
74 b 

—— 5, Esther, 60; Psalms, 252 

— 7, Psalms, 252; Ephesians, 6 








PSALM XXXVII.—PSALM LXVI. 


1385 





PSALM XXXVII. 12, Acts xiii., 267 
—— 16, u. Samuel, 165 
)—— 24, John ix., 253 : 
PSALM XXXIX. 6, Psalms, 264, 
273; Hebrews, 96 
— 9,1. Kings, 272; u. Timothy, 
348 
—— 12, Psalms, 364 
PSALM XL. 2, 1. Corinthians, 245 
— 5, Psalms, 280 
— 7, Hebrews, 45 
—— 8, Psalm li., 379; Matthew 
ix., 337; wu. Corinthians, 131 
— 9, 1. Corinthians, 134 
— 10, Psalms, 292 
— 11-12, Hebrews, 41 
— 12, Psalms, 280 
—— 17, Hebrews, 252 
PSALM XLI. 9, Matthew xviii., 279 
PSALM XLII. 2, um. Samuel, 143 ; 
Psalm, 274, 289; Psalms li., 
102; Isaiah, 182; wu. Timothy, 
307; Epistles of John, 393 
—— 5, Deuteronomy, 228 
PSALM XLIII. 5, Psalms, 300 
PSALM XLV. 2, Psalms, 307; 
Epistles of John, 117 
_— 3, Deuteronomy, 128; Psalms, 
307 
— 3, 4, Matthew xviii., 105 
— 4.6, Psalms, 307 
-— 7, Psalms, 307; Isaiah xlix.,97 
— 10-12, Psalms, 317 
— 13, Psalms, 317; Luke, 284 
— 14-15, Psalms, 317 
PSALM XLVI. 3, Epistles of John, 
365 
—— 4, Psalms, 327; Isaiah, 47 
_ — 5, Genesis, 217; Psalms, 327 ; 
Romans, 395 
—— 6, Psalms, 327 
— 7, Genesis, 300; Psalms, 211, 
327; Romans, 217 


PSALM XLVI. 11, Psalms, 211, 342 

PSALM XLVIIL., 1. Kings, 60 

— 1-7, Psalms, 351 

—— 8, Deuteronomy, 114; Psalms, 
351; Isaiah xlix., 169 

— 9-14, Psalms, 351 

PSALM XLIX. 7, o..Samuel, 146 

— 13, Genesis, 200 

— 14, Psalms, 365 

—— 15, Genesis, 46 

PSALM L. 5, Philippians, 259 

— 12, Psalm li., 274, 375 

PSALM LI. 1-2, Psalm li., 1 

— 4, um. Samuel, 59, 68; Luke, 
118, 123; wu. Corinthians, 121 

—— 7, Peter, 320 

— 12, Psalm li., 245 

PSALM LV. 6, Romans, 164 

— 19, Peter, 32 

— 22, Esther, 288; 
98 

PSALM LVI. 3, uo. Samuel, 380; 
wm. Kings, 133; Psalm li., 30; mo. 
Timothy, 269; Hebrews, 98 

—— 4, Psalm li., 30 

—— 8, Romans, 332 

— 13, Psalm li., 39 

PSALM LVII. 7, Psalm li., 47 

PSALM LVIII. 11, Peter, 72 

PSALM LIX. 9, Psalm li., 54 

—— 17, Psalm li., 54 

PSALM LXI. 1, Exodus, 296 

—— 2, Psalms, 166 

PSALM LXII. 1-5, Psalm li., 66 

— 8, u. Timothy, 338 

PSALM LXIII. 1, Psalm li., 738 

—— 5. Psalm li., 73 

—— 8, 11. Kings, 51; Psalm li., 73 

PSALM LXV. 3, Psalm li., 82 

—— 7, Epistles of John, 361 

PSALM LXVI. 11, Exodus, 60 

—— 12, Genesis, 101 

—— 18, Philippians, 359 


Psalm Ii, 


136 


PSALM LXVII. 4, Matthew, 244 

PSALM LXVIII. 6, Hebrews, 315 

—— 9, Isaiah xlix., 283 

—— 19, Psalm li., 93 

PSALM LXIX. 9, Epistles of John, 
293 

— 21, John xv., 257 

—— 28, Exodus, 176 

PSALM LXXII. 14, Isaiah xlix., 
391 

—— 16, Mark ix., 240 

— 17, Acts xiii., 44 

PSALM LXXIIL., Genesis, 136 

—— 1, Psalm li., 66 

—— 2, Deuteronomy, 213; Psalm 
li., 186 

— 3, Psalms, 52 

— 16, Esther, 67 

—— 17, Hebrews, 168 

— 20, u. Kings, 72; Psalm li, 
52 

—— 24, Genesis, 46; Psalm li. 
385; John xv., 400; Philip- 
pians, 288 

—— 25, Psalm li., 100; Philip- 
pians, 72; Hebrews, 95 

-— 26, Psalm li., 100; Matthew, 

310; 1 Corinthians, 293; 
Ephesians, 65; Peter, 275 

—— 28, Psalm li., 108; Hebrews, 
174 

PSALM LXXIV. 22, Psalm li., 321; 
John ix., 60 

PSALM LXXVIL. 10, Genesis, 248 

PSALM LXXVIL., Exodus, 56 

— 19, Epistles of John, 357 

PSALM LXXVIII.7, Deuteronomy, 
127; Psalm li., 114 

—— 9, Esther, 174 

— 16, Exodus, 56 

— 19, Mark, 266 

PSALM LXXX. 12, 13, Mark ix., 
138 


PSALM LXVII.—PSALM XCI. 















PSALM LXXXI. 10, Mark. 24: 
Luke xiii., 346; Philippians, 26 

—— 13, Luke xiii., 202; Rom 
67 ; 

PSALM LXXXIV. 3, Pain 1a is 

—— 5, Psalm li., 130 

— 6, Psalm li., 130; Isaiah xli: 
8; Ezekiel, 99 

—7, Genesis, 82; Psalm 
130; Acts, 279; m. Timothy, 

— 10, Hebrews, 239 

—— ll, Peter, 174 

—— 12, Psalm li., 139 

PSALM LXXXYV. 10, 11, Psalm 
148 

— 12, Esther, 59; Psalm 
148; Isaiah xlix., 161 

—— 13, Psalm li., 148 

PSALM LXXXVI. 1-5, Psalm li 
159 

— 11, u. Samuel, 181; uo. Tix 
othy, 326; Hebrews, 336 

—— 15, mn. Samuel, 266 

PSALM LXXXVIL. 3, Hebrews, § 

—— 5, Ephesians, 118 

—— 6, Exodus, 176 

PSALM LXXXIX. 14, m. Timothy 
335 

—— 15, Psalm li., 169 

—— 36, nu. Samuel, 34 

PSALM XC. 1, Psalm hi., 
Peter, 13 

2, Hebrews, 127 

—— 8, Psalm li., 176 

— 17, Psalm li., 177 

PSALM XCI. Psalm li., 186 ; 
315; Philippians, 297 

—— 1, Psalm li., 185 

—— 4, Psalm li., 184 

—— 9, Psalm li., 192 

— 10, Psalm li., 192; m. Time 
391 

— 13, Romans, 389 





PSALM XCI.—PSALM CXXX. 


137 





PS XCI. 14, Psalm li., 201; 
Matthew, 289 
_ —— 15-16, Psalm li., 209 
_ PSALM XCII. 12, Esther, 333 
— 13, Esther, 333; Epistles of 
John, 191 
—— ]4, Deuteronomy, 166 
PSALM XCIII. 3, John ix., 195; 
_ Epistles of John, 360 
PSALM XCIV. 18, Genesis, 170; 
u. Timothy, 74; Epistles of 
John, 113; Hebrews, 280 
PSALM XCV., Exodus, 63, 343 
—— 8, Acts xiii., 298 
PSALM XCVI. 13, Hebrews, 257 
PSALM XCIX. 6, Deuteronomy, 
287 
— 8, Deuteronomy, 80; Psalm 
li., 217 
PSALM C. 3, Deuteronomy, 30; 
Matthew xviii.,30; Ephesians, 37 
PSALM CII. 13, Isaiah xlix., 289 
PSALM CIII. 1, Philippians, 114 
— 14, Psalms, 295; u. Timothy, 
1-3 
— 20, Isaiah xlix., 216; Markix., 
276 
—— 21, Philippians, 114 
PSALM CIV. 2, Peter, 255 
PSALM CV. 14-15, Psalm li., 226 
-——19, Genesis, 254; Psalm li, 
232 
PSALM CVL. 1, Ephesians, 167 
—— 32-33, Psalm li., 358 
PSALM CVII. 30, Luke, 358 
PSALM CVIII. 14, Exodus, 61 
PSALM CX., Matthew xviii., 139 
— l, Epistles of John, 316 
—— 3, Psalm li., 239; Matthew, 15 
_ PSALM CXI. 3, Psalm li., 255 
—- 5, Matthew, 265 
PSALM CXIL 3, Psalm li, 255 
— 7, Psalm li., 264 


PSALM CXIII. Exodus, 267 

PSALM CXIV. 5, Deuteronomy, 151 

PSALM CXYV. 8, Isaiah, 242 

PSALM CXYVI. 6, Hebrews, 171 

— 8-9, Psalm li., 265 

— 12, Psalm li., 273 

— 13, Psalm li., 273; Ephesians, 9 

—— 16, Isaiah xlix., 332; Ephe- 
sians, 3, 297; Peter, 219 

PSALM CXVIIL., John ix., 126 

—— 17, Ephesians, 194 

—— 20, Epistles of John, 169 

—— 22, Ezekiel, 286 

PSALM CXIX. 9, Psalm li., 273 

— 11, Psalm li., 292; Ephesians, 
348; Epistles of John, 57, 263 

—— 19, Psalm li., 300 

—— 37, Romans, 225 

—— 45, Ephesians, 334 

— 60, 0. Samuel, 153; 1. Kings, 
227; John ix., 199 

— 64, Psalm li., 300 

—— 7l, u. Corinthians, 81 

—— 89, Ephesians, 374 

—— 91, Deuteronomy, 211 

— 117, u. Samuel, 204; Psalms, 
81; Acts xiii., 359 

—— 126-128, Psalm li., 306 

—— 140, Psalm li., 324 

— 165, Psalm li., 329 

PSALM CXXLI 1-2, Psalm li., 335 

—— 3, Ephesians, 361 

—— 5,0. Kings, 316; Esther, 123 

PSALM CXXV. 1-2, Psalm li., 342 

PSALM CXXVL. 1, n. Kings, 282 

—— 3, Exodus, 129 

—— 5, John xv., 351 

—— 6, Mark ix., 16 

PSALM CXXVII. 1, Genesis, 206 


|—_— 2, Luke niii., 334 


PSALM CXXX. 1, uo. Kings, 84; 
Peter, 15 
5, u. Timothy, 368 





138 


PSALM CXXX. 6, Psalm li., 59 

PSALM CXXXLI. 1, Luke xiii., 139 

—— 2, Mark ix., 72 

PSALM CXXXILI. 14, m. Samuel, 30 

PSALM CXXXIV. 1-3, Psalm li., 
349 

PSALM CXXXV. 18, Romans, 235 

PSALM CXXXVL. 1, Ezekiel, 101 ; 
Romans, 217 

—— 7, u. Timothy, 61; Peter, 356 

PSALM CXXXVII. 3, Deuter- 
onomy, 255 

PSALM CXXXVIIL. 3, Ephesians, 
142 

— 8, Mark, 317; 1. Corinthians, 
280; Ephesians, 187; uo. Tim- 
othy, 130 

PSALM CXXXIX. 4, Psalm li., 271; 
Mark ix., 54 

9, Hebrews, 161 

— ll, Philippians, 104 

— 23, Exodus, 212; Psalm li., 
360; Mark, 227; 1. Corinthians, 
80; ou. Timothy, 270 

— 24, Psalm li., 360 

PSALM CXLI. 2, Psalm li., 369 

PSALM CXLIIL. 9, John, 340 

—— 10, Psalm li., 376; John ix., 
371 

PSALM CXLIV. 1, u. Samuel, 276 

— 15, Deuteronomy, 316 

PSALM CXLYV. 9, Epistles of John, 
98 

—— 14, Psalm li., 268 

— 16, Exodus, 70; 
385; Matthew, 264 

— 19, Psalm li., 385 

PSALM CXLVII. 9, Luke, 344 

—— 11, Deuteronomy, 67; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 363 

— 15, John, 234 

PSALMIST as poet, Psalms, 366 ; 
Psalm li., 148 





Psalm li, 


PSALM CXXX.—PUZZLE 


PSALTER as song-book, 1. 

83; Romans, 1 
PUBLICANS, the friend of, 

thew ix., 131; Mark, 70 
PULPIT, the, and current 

u. Samuel, 133 
PUNISHMENT of diso 

Deuteronomy, 330 
—— for lack of love, 1. Corinthi 

263 
—— future, Esther, 128, 150 
— God inflicts, Genesis, 149 
—— grace and, Ezekiel, 366 
—— love compels, Isaiah, 149 
—— man’s, is self-inflicted, 

11; Ezekiel, 126 
—— is natural, Esther, 149, 151 
—— and pardon, Samuel, 84 
—— present, Esther, 128 
—— of saints, Psalm li., 222 
PURIFICATION and 

u. Corinthians, 5 
of the soul, Peter, 76 
PURITAN, the, as a type, L 

inthians, 92 
PURITY and beauty, 

137 ‘ 
—— David's ery for, Psalm li., 
effort and, Peter, 312 
—— love and, Philippians, 304 
—— priestly, Isaiah xlix., 78 
—— religious, m1. Kings, 228 
PURPOSE, the divine, Eph 

25 
— man’s passion and 

Genesis, 240 
—— of grace, n. Timothy, 149° 
— the one divine, Isaiah, 151 
—— thwarting God’s, Luke, 1 
PUSHFULNESS, Peter’s, 

ix., 306 
PUZZLE, the key to life’s, 

108 

















QUARRELSOMENESS—RECORD 


i 


and, Romans, 299 

QUARIUS, a brother, Romans, 

QUEEN, a, 

- Samuel, 195 

— the, and her Virgins, u. Tim- 

_ othy, 359 

QUEENS, the warring, Romans, 
104 

QUESTION and answer, a, Psalms, 
105 

— an audacious, John ix., 237 


seeks wisdom, I. 


RACE, the Christian, Acts xiii., 
195; 1 Corinthians, 146; 1. 

Timothy, 105; Hebrews, 177 
RAHAB, Deuteronomy, 132 
RAIMENT, the, which Christ gives, 
Epistles of John, 299 

RAIN as symbol, u. Timothy, 351 
— clear shining after, Genesis, 55 
— needed, Isaiah xlix., 283 
RAINBOW, covenant of the, 
_ Genesis, 60 

RAMESES, Exodus, 16 

RAMOTH-GILEAD, un. Samuel, 

_ 296 

} SOM, Christ as a, Matthew 
_ ‘Xviii., 80 

— for souls, Exodus, 168-70 

—— and sin, Exodus, 169 

RAPTURE, reasonable, Psalm li., 
100 

RAVENS, Elijah and the, a. 
Samuel, 235 


139 





Q 
QUARRELSOMENESS, Christians | QUESTION, the great, Acts xiii., 


122 

a solemn, Isaiah xlix., 257, 
263 

— Christ’s, John ix., 81 

—an unanswered, Mark ix, 
54 

— God’s test, Psalm li., 238 

QUIET, need of, Isaiah xlix., 235; 
Mark, 323 

QUIETNESS 
Isaiah, 155 

*QUO VADIS 2?’ John ix., 235 





and confidence, 


R 


RAYS, the triple, Epistles of John, 
370 

READINESS, what makes? Mat- 
thew xviii., 190 

READING, a Christian’s, Psalm li., 
294 

REALITY and Dream, Acts xiii., 
72 

REAPING, time for, Esther, 327 

REASONS for Temperance, Ephe- 
sians, 313 

REBEKAH, Genesis, 173, 192 

REBUKES, Jesus Chrisi’s, John, 
375, 

RECHABITES, Isaiah xlix., 351 

RECOGNITION, the Christian’s, 
Epistles of John, 257 

RECONCILIATION, Christ’s law 
of, Genesis, 271 

recognition and, Genesis, 260 

RECORD of two Kings, the, 
Samuel, 229 





140 


RECORD—RELIGION 





RECORD, an unblemished, Eze- 
kiel, 72 
RECORDS, God’s, Romans, 406 





sin’s indelible, Isaiah xlix., 296 

RECOVERY, a great, great fall 
and, Luke xiii., 240 

REDEEMED, song of the, um. Kings, 
84 

REDEEMER, the Kinsman, Exo- 
dus, 280 

‘REDEMPTION,’ Romans, 50 

—— by Christ, o. Timothy, 175 

—and Christ’s Resurrection, 
Acts, 40 

—— Christ’s purpose of, o. Tim- 
othy, 253 

—— Christian slaves by, Peter, 220 

—— from sin, Isaiah xlix., 74 

— Jewish and Christian, Exo- 
dus, 48, 281, 292 

— of the body, Romans, 179 

— a strange work,. Isaiah, 150 

— universal, Romans, 56, 57 

— the wonder of, Isaiah xlix., 159 

REED, bruised, Isaiah, 286 

REFLECT and rejoice, 
395, 404 

REFORM, how carried out, 1. 
Kings, 397 

Jehoshaphat’s, mu. Kings, 155 

—— of heart, nm. Kings, 234 

REFORMATION, Asa’s, m. Kings, 
136 

efforts at moral, Genesis, 30 

—— a godly, um. Kings, 225 

national, m. Kings, 19, 147 

battle-cry of the Protestant, 
Psalms, 339, 351 

—— doctrines of the, Acts xiii., 38 

REFUGE, the cities of, Deuter- 
onomy, 168 

God as, Psalms, 144, 190, 

347; Psalm li., 193 


Esther, 

















REFUGE, a, is needed, m. 
othy, 385 : 

REFUSAL, the great, L 
ians, 386 

REGENERATION, John, 154 

— Epistles of John, 15 

— and adoption, Romans, 
156 

— of man, Matthew ix., 189 

—— need of, Romans, 231 

REGIONS BEYOND, to the, 
xiii., 1 

REHOBOAM, ua. Samuel, 
u. Kings, 121 

REJECTION of Christ, sin 
John xv., 101 

— of love, Matthew xviii, 
Acts xiii., 45 

REJOICE evermore, Philippi 
21 

—— and reflect, Esther, 395 

REJOICING, continual, 
pians, 233 

RELATIONS, Christ’s, Mark, 
129, 138 

RELIGION and conduct, Luke, 

defined, Psalm li., 76 

—— doctrinal and personal, 
332 

essence of, Deuteronomy, 
Acts xiii., 356 

—— evolution and, Exodus, 1 

—the heart of, Psalm, 
Psalm li., 140 

— morality and, Exodus, 
107; Peter, 61 

—— in the ideal statesman, 
dus, 93 

—— is warm, Isaiah, 171 

—— mystical, Psalm li., 101 

— of fear, form, and co 
mise, 0. Kings, 43 

— of the heart, Psalm li., 








RELIGION—REST 


141 





GION and _ philanthropy, 
um. Samuel, 45 
= mites Samuel, 222 
— results in social service, Exo- 
; dus, 133 
‘—— summarised, Ezekiel, 230 
— two kinds of, Isaiah xlix., 


246 
-— the ultimate of, Peter, 359 
— youthful, m. Samuel, 250 
— decline in, money and, Luke, 
‘xiii, 97 
RELIGIOUS DEPRESSION, 
_ Psalms, 29C, 300 
I RELIGIOUS LIFE, constituents 
of, m. Kings, 47 

ER! Esther, 399, 404 
REMEMBRANCE, Divine, Isaiah 

_ xilix., 10; Romans, 387 
ae Lord’s Supper for, Mat- 
_ thew xviii., 253 
REMEMBRANCER,God’s, Genesis, 
«666 
-REMONSTRANCES, Psalms, 300 ; 
_ Acts xiii., 298 
REMORSE, mu. Corinthians, 12 
— love and, Deuteronomy, 367 
RENEGADES, the Church and, 
_ Acts xiii., 22 





RENUNCIATION precedes owner- | 


ship, Psalms, 33 


REPENTANCE applied to God, | 


_ Ezekiel, 194 

— a call to, Isaiah xlix., 138 
— David’s, 1. Samuel, 65 
—and faith towards God, m. 
— in Christians, Epistles of John, 
iy 292, 

— a late, Luke xiii., 317 
-— late but true, Hebrews, 235 
-— Manasseh’s, 0. Kings, 254 

— necessity of, Isaiah, 40 

—— preaching of, Luke, 69 





REPENTANCE and 
Deuteronomy, 370 

—— saved by, Ezekiel, 183 

a summons to, Ezekiel, 128 

— threefold, Ezekiel-Malachi, 189 

too late, Esther, 81 ; Hebrews, 

231 

and victory, 
283 

REPROOF, duty of Christian, 
Epistles of John, 310 

REQUEST, a refused, Mark, 186 

REQUIREMENTS, God’s, and His 
gifts, Ezekiel-Malachi, 230 

of the King, Matthew xviii, 


remorse, 











Deuteronomy. 





46 

RESIGNATION, Christian, 
mans, 370 

and patience, Genesis, 336 

RESIST and persist, Peter, 271 

RESISTANCE, obstinate, Isaiah 
xlix., 374 

— Christ’s firm, Isaiah xlix., 27 

RESOLUTIONS, barren, ou. Cor- 
inthians, 37 

RESOLVE, Psalms, 265 

—— inflexible, Isaiah xlix., 26 

| RESPITE, misused, Esther, 367 

| RESPONSIBILITY, human, Gene- 
sis, 25 

— individual, Psalm li., 3 

and knowledge, Matthew 
Xvill., 327 

—— measured by capacity, Esther, 
12 


Ro- 











——and memory, Psalm ii, 
115 
personal, and social ends, 0. 
Kings, 343 


— shuffling off, Matthew xviii. 
306 

REST and activity of Christ, He- 
brews, 26 


142 


REST, entrance into God’s, m. Tim- 
othy, 312 

—— the Giver of, Matthew ix., 153 

work and, Exodus, 321 

— of faith, the, Isaiah, 157; m. 
Timothy, 303 

—— man’s share in God’s, Psalms, 
253; wo. Timothy, 323 

—— progress, and increase of early 
Church, Acts, 281 

RESTING-PLACE, the pilgrim’s, 
Psalm li., 126; Ezekiel, 89 

RESTLESSNESS stilled, Luke, 352 

RESTORATION, eve of, 1. Kings, 
275 

RESTORED RUNAWAY, the, nm. 
Timothy, 119 

RESTORER and Destroyers, John, 
133 

RESULTS, the message and its 
practical, Peter, 247 

RESURRECTION, aspects of the, 
Philippians, 128, 134 

— of the body, Romans, 179; 
1. Corinthians, 337, 345, 347 

—— body, soul, and spirit in the, 
Ezekiel, 92 

— Christ’s, Luke xiii., 318 

— Christ’s, confirmed, Acts, 18 

—— doubting Christ’s, Mark ix., 248 

— effect of Christ’s, Matthew ix., 
271; John, 137 

—— explanation of Christ’s, Mat- 
thew ix., 276 

the first preaching of, Mark ix., 
274 

—— hopes of a, John xv., 298 

—— importance of fact of Christ’s, 
Acts, 39 

— and judgement, Acts xiii., 145 

—— meaning of Christ’s, Romans, 1 

—— morning of the, John xv., 300 

—— vision of the, Ezekiel, 31 








REST—REVELATION 






RESURRECTION of Dead 
the, Ephesians, 81 . 
—— of Lazarus, John ix., 97, 
—— the power of the, 1. Co 
ians, 195; uw. Corinthians, 
—— proof of Christ’s, Mark 
275; Luke xiii., 373 : 
—— significance of, Esther, 43 
— witness of, Mark ix. 
Acts, 28; Romans, 1 
RETICENCE, guilty, Psalm 
298 
RETRIBUTION, Genesis, 
Psalm li., 217 | 
—— certainty of, Genesis, 262 
—— for neglect, Esther, 81 
— future, Matthew xviii., ll 
— and God’s character, Ep 
of John, 348 
—in history, Matthew 
146, 158 
—— on Joash, m1. Kings, 190 — 
—— in silence, nm. Samuel, 397 
— on Solomon, nm. Samuel, . 
221 
—— righteous, Isaiah xlix., 38; 
RETRIBUTIONS, Esther, 378 
RETROSPECT, Paul’s, 
othy, 105 
—— a twofold, on one life, Gene 
279 
RETROSPECTION, duty c 
Corinthians, 110 
REUBEN, recreant, Deuterc 
206 
REUNION in heaven, Luke, 1é 
—— loving call to, m. — 






































brews, 259 
— Christ is the, Esther, 50 
—— the climax of, Matthew, ! 


REVELATION—REYV. III. 


143 





REVELATION completed, John| REY. I. 14-15, Epistles of John, 


xv., 111, 142, 151 
——culminates in 
Isaiah xlix., 160 
—— difficulties in, Epistles of John, 
349 

—— a divine, Exodus, 194, 307 

—— the end of, Philippians, 299, 
312 

—— and fear, Genesis, 111 

——and the Books of Genesis, 
Epistles of John, 387 

—— of God by His followers, Gene- 
sis, 297 

—— of God’s love, Peter, 329 

—— has two sides, Genesis, 109 

—— to Israel, Isaiah, 266 

—— mystery in, Genesis, 109 

oo is partial, Isaiah, 327 

: presumption for a, Psalms, 

4127 

—— progressive, Deuteronomy, 169 

sterner aspects of, Psalms, 5 
a sufficiency of, John ix., 269 
| summed up in Christ, Mark ix., 


redemption, 


1 













supernatural, Deuteronomy, 

120 

EY. I. 4, Epistles of John, 114, 

326 

5, Exodus, 62; Luke xiii., 

119; 1. Corinthians, 229; Phil- 

 ippians, 379; u. Timothy, 295; 

Epistles of John, 114, 126, 143, 

| 340 

6, Epistles of John, 135 

7, Philippians, 253; ou. Tim- 
othy, 161 

8, Isaiah xlix., 87 

9, Epistles of John, 150 

9-12, Epistles of John, 144 

— 12-13, Ezekiel, 295; Epistles 

of John, 144 


144 

16, Deuteronomy, 224; Ephe- 
sians, 377; Epistles of John, 
144 

— 17, Isaiah, 29; wu. Timothy, 
10; Epistles of John, 144 

— 18, Deuteronomy, 86; John 





xv., 134; Acts, 21, 109; He- 
brews, 293; Epistles of John, 
144, 162, 171 


— 19, Epistles of John, 144 

20, Ezekiel, 295; Epistles of 
John, 144 

REV. IL. 1, Epistles of John, 
170 

—— 7, Epistles of John, 162, 187 

— 8, Epistles of John, 196 

— 9, John xv., 135 

— 10, 1. Corinthians, 
Epistles of John, 197, 277 

— ll, Epistles of John, 196 

— 13, Epistles of John, 275 

—— 17, Exodus, 72; Acts xiii., 17; 
1. Corinthians, 337; Epistles of 
John, 205 

19, Epistles of John, 205 

—— 26-28, Epistles of John, 220, 
223 

REV. III. 1, Matthew, 188; Ephe- 
sians, 322; Epistles of John, 232, 
250, 327 

4, 1. Corinthians, 159; Ephe- 
sians, 194,199; Philippians, 267 ;: 
Epistles of John, 243, 250 

— 5, Exodus, 176; _ Philip- 
pians, 19; Epistles of John, 250, 
281 

— 7, u. Timothy, 312; Epistles 
of John, 169 

8, Acts xiii., 77; Epistles of 

John, 274 

10, Epistles of John, 259 





155; 














144 REV. ITI.—REV. XXI. 


REY. III. 11, Mark ix., 67; 1. Cor- | REV. VIL. 16, Isaiah, 205; 
inthians, 163; Ephesians, 353;| 257; Epistles of John, 207 
Philippians, 8; Hebrews, 369; |—— 17, Psalms, 105, 365; 
Epistles of John, 267 xlix., 6,9; Romans, 182 

— 12, uo. Samuel, 175; Isaiah, | REV. VILL 1, Exodus, 35 
297; Epistles of John, 196, 275 | —— 29, Deuteronomy, 236 

—— 15, Philippians, 334; Epistles | REV. X. 4, Epistles of John, 
of John, 283 

— 16, Philippians, 201; uo. Tim- 





othy, 184; Peter, 233 REV. XII. 11, m Samuel, 
— 17, Matthew ix., 254 Romans, 208 
— 18, Exodus, 213; Isaiah xlix.,| REV. XIV. 2, Matthew, 376 
174; Luke, 94; Epistles of John, | —— 4, Ephesians, 335 
293 —— 8, ou. Samuel, 106 
— 19, wu. Corinthians, 65; mm. | —— 13, Esther, 358; Matthew 


Timothy, 148; Epistles of John,} 109; 1 Corinthians, 358 ; 
283 sians, 201; wu. Timothy, 


— 20, Matthew, 332; Matthew Epistles of John, 212 
xviii, 34; Mark, 174; Luke | —— 14-20, Ezekiel, 170 
xiii, 163; 1. Corinthians, 387; | —— 22, Esther, 202 
Epistles of John, 291, 302 REV. XV. 1, Exodus, 60 

—— 21, Psalm li., 209; Mark ix., | —— 2, Epistles of John, 341 


320; u. Timothy, 226; Hebrews, 
23, 28, 412; Epistles of John, 
12, 139, 312 


—— 3, Genesis, 335; Exodus, 
61; Epistles of John, 341 
REV. XVIL. 14, Psalm li, 


REV. IV. 10, Isaiah, 36 Hebrews, 83 

REV. V. 6, Exodus, 42; Ezekiel, | REV. XIX. 2, Isaiah xlix., 226 
300; Ephesians, 98; Hebrews, | —— 8, Psalms, 326 
307; Epistles of John, 171, | 12, John xv., 135; m 
322 othy, 223 

—— 9, . Kings, 84 —— 15, Isaiah xlix., 219 


—— 12, 13, Ephesians, 24 

13, Philippians, 353; Epistles 
of John, 134 

REV. VI., 16, Exodus, 244; Deuter- 
onomy, 131; Ezekiel, 244 


—— 16, Deuteronomy, 131 
REV. XX. 12, Isaiah, 322 ; 





—— 23, Psalms, 6 
REV. VII. 9, Exodus, 268; wm. | —— 2, Deuteronomy, 140; 
Timothy, 232; Epistles of John, of John, 350 


331, 383 

— 14, Psalms, 374; Mark ix., 
307; Epistles of John, 252 

—— 15, John, 14 


—— 3, Exodus, 224; Psalms, 
Epistles of John, 350 

— 4,1. Corinthians, 329 ; 
of John, 350 


eT UUUE aE EEEESEIEEEEEEENSESE EERE 


REV. XXI.—_RIGHTEOUSNESS 


145 





REY. XxXI. 5, Esther, 
Tsaiah xlix., 274; Epistles of 
John, 350 

— 6, John xv., 268; Epistles of 
John, 350 

— 7, 1. Corinthians, 73, 306; 
Epistles of John, 350 

— 9, Psalms, 317 

—— 13, Genesis, 94 

—— 22, John, 22; 
John, 350 

—— 23, Ezekiel, 277; Epistles of 
John, 350 

— 24, 26, Ezekiel, 261; Epistles 
of John, 350 

— 27, Isaiah xlix., 321; Philip- 
pians, 12; Epistles of John, 350 

REY. XXII., Exodus, 151 

—— l, Wzekiel, 32; 1. Corinthians, 
373; Epistles of John, 366 

— 2, Epistles of John, 366 

—— 3, Ephesians, 210; u. Tim- 
othy, 322; Hebrews, 23, 29; 
Epistles of John, 366 

— 4, Isaiah, 297; 
64; Peter, 308; 
John, 366 

—— 5, Philippians, 108; Ephe- 
sians, 50; Epistles of John, 366 

— 6, 10, Epistles of John, 366 

— ll, Esther, 116; Epistles of 
John, 366 

—— 14, Genesis, 10; Isaiah, 111; 
Epistles of John, 380 

—— 17, Psalms, 300; Isaiah, 76; 


Epistles of 


Ephesians, 
Epistles of 


John, 27; Hebrews, 235; 
Epistles of John, 391 
—— 21, Ezekiel, 363 
REVERENCE enjoined, Luke xiii., 


248 © 
—— need for, John ix., 392 
—— of Christ, Mark ix., 164 
—— to Christ, Psalms, 323 


316 ; | REVERENCE, prayer for, Mat- 


thew, 241 

seraphic, Isaiah, 30 

REVISED VERSION, an improve- 
ment, Psalm li., 93, 1383; Mat- 
thew xviii., 181 

REVIVAL, eighteenth century, 
Psalm li., 319 

REWARD, God our, Genesis, 112 

— of the greatest, Matthew ix., 
110 

of guilty silence, 

Malachi, 177 

of a renewed life, Romans, 238 

—— principles of, Philippians, 386 

for faithfulness, m. Kings, 243 

of the seeker, Hebrews, 111 

of the trading servants, Luke 

xiii., 173 

a preacher’s, Romans, 22 

variety in, Matthew ix., 111, 
115 

RHODA, Genesis, 141; Acts, 386 

RICH POOR, and the poor rich, 
Esther, 163; om. Corinthians, 27 

RICHES, deceptive, Esther, 214 

—— in Christ, mu. Corinthians, 329 

— of grace, Ephesians, 91 

—— fleeting, Ezekiel, 255 

and poverty of Christ, m. Cor- 
inthians, 30 

— two kinds of, Luke xiii., 83 

RIGHT OF ENTRY, the, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 287 

RIGHTEOUS, trials of the, 
Kings, 244 

RIGHTEOUSNESS, the 
plate of, Ephesians, 350 

divine, vindicated, Esther, 69 

enduring, Psalm li., 256 

faith and, Genesis, 116 

first, peace second, Hebrews, 1 

force of, m. Samuel, 285 





Ezekiel- 


























breast- 

















146 


RIGHTEOUSNESS, hunger for, 
Matthew, 136 

—— imparted by Christ, Isaiah 
xlix., 116 

the law of, Isaiah xlix., 175 

and love, Psalms, 124; Isaiah, 
198 : 

— and salvation, Isaiah, 332 

—— necessity of personal, Isaiah, 
197 

and peace, Psalm li, 149; 

Hebrews, 2 

practical, Peter, 320 

—— retributive, Isaiah xlix., 382 

—— is the test, Peter, 321 

—— trust, love, Psalms, 21 

zeal for, Luke xiii. 

RING, the prodigal son’s, Luke 
xiii., 69 

RIOT at Philippi, Acts xiii., 114 

RITE, the Lord’s Supper as a, L 
Corinthians, 173 

RITES, value of, 1. Corinthians, 93, 
94; wu. Corinthians, 149 

— and easy religion, ou. Kings, 
299 

RITUAL, faithfulness in, o. Kings, 
289 

— feasts in, Psalms, 87 

—— Jewish, Exodus, 122, 127, 228, 
238 

— of atonement, Exodus, 249 

reform in, 0. Kings, 234 

RITUALISM, vain, o. Corinthians, 
317 

RITUALIST, the, as a type, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 92 

RIVER of divine love, John, 183 

—— of God, Psalms, 327 

— of life, Ezekiel-Malachi, 32 

— of peace, Isaiah, 336 

—— and rock, the, Peter, 279 

— salvation as a, Ezekiel, 37 




















RIGHTEOUSNESS—ROMANS I. 




















—— the trees by, Isaiah xlix., 3 
RIVERS of God, the, Isaiah, 2! 
ROAD, rule of the, m. Corinthii 
381 “- 
—— shod for the, Deuteronomy, 
— to the Cross, Christ on 
Mark ix., 81 
ROBE, the prodigal son’s, 
xiii., 66 
—— symbol of the, 
John, 382 
—— the victor’s, Epistles of 
250 
—— the white, Epistles of John, 
ROBERTSON, F. W., Genesis, 
ROCK, Christ as the, Matthew, : 
— God is a, Genesis, 
Deuteronomy, 47; 1. 
122; Psalms 165 
—— inhabitant of the, Isaiah, 1 
—— Jehovah as a, Isaiah, 116 
‘ROCK OF AGES,’ Exodus, § 
ROCK, river and, Peter, 279 
—their rock and our, De 
onomy, 47 
ROMAN CATHOLICISM, teac 
of, Genesis, 34 
—— —— inconsistencies of, Gel 
sis, 174 
—— —— and the slums, nu. E 
347 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHUR 
and Peter, Matthew ix., 325 
ROMAN CENTURION, Christ 
a, Luke, 137 
ROMAN EMPIRE, 
and the, Ezekiel, 53 
ROMANS L. 1, Mark, 5 
—— 4, Isaiah xlix., 36; Acts, 
Acts iii., 30; Romans, 1; 1, 
inthians, 22; uo. Corinthian: 
339; Philippians, 134 









ROMANS I. 7, Romans, 6 

— 11-12, Romans, 13 

— 14, Esther, 19; 

eee, 

— 16, Romans, 30; Philippians, 

311 

'— 17, Acts xiii., 38 

ROMANS II. 1, Deuteronomy, 335 

i 4, Esther, 370 

— 20, n. Kings, 73 

_—— 17-29, Romans, 417 

ROMANS III. 19-26, Romans, 46 

— 20, u. Kings, 63 

— 22, Romans, 52 

i 93) Exodus, 170; mm. Samuel, 
58; Romans, 57, 107; Philip- 
pians, 318; Hebrews, 63 

— 26, u. Timothy, 64 

— 29, Genesis, 149 

‘ROMANS IV. 21, Genesis, 119 

— 22, Genesis, 105; Hebrews, 

422 

ROMANS V. 1, Acts iii., 319; 
Romans, 61, 95; u. Timothy, 
370; Hebrews, 2 

— 2, Romans, 67, 77 

—— 3-4, Romans, 77 

—— 5, Esther, 43; Romans, 86; 

wu. Timothy, 118, 371 

— 8, Romans, 95; 1. Corinthians, 
190; Philippians, 310; Peter, 

| 359 

— 9, Ephesians, 369 

——10, Romans, 66; Hebrews, 
430 

— 15-17, Matthew xviii., 87 

|/—— 21, Romans, 104 

— 19, Isaiah xlix., 115 

|/ROMANS VI.9, Romans, 2; Epistles 

| of John, 120 

j—— 13, Ezekiel, 348; 
223; u. Timothy, 86 

— 17, Romans, 114 


Romans, 
" 












Romans, 


ROMANS I.—ROMANS VIII. 


147 





ROMANS VI. 21, 1. Corinthians, 
171; Ephesians, 306 

—— 22, Acts, 171 

—— 23, Mark ix., 80; 1. Corinthians, 
159 

ROMANS VII. 3, Ephesians, 111 

—— 14, Psalms, 79 

—— 24, Esther, 129; Isaiah xlix., 
277; Acts iii., 35; wo. Corinth- 


jans, 42; Philippians, 262; 
u. ‘Timothy, 15; Hebrews, 
344 


ROMANS VIII. 2, Exodus, 294; 
Esther, 130; John, 162, 219; 
Romans, 123; 1. Corinthians, 76; 
Ephesians, 247; Hebrews, 41; 
Peter, 259 

— 3, Romans, 130; Ephesians 
245 

— 7, John xv., 65 

— 9, 1. Corinthians, 287; He- 
brews, 58; Peter, 342; Epistles 
of John, 331 

—— 10, Ephesians, 352 

— 11, Romans, 185 

— 13, u. Corinthians, 161 

—— 14, Hebrews, 349 

— 15, Matthew, 239; Romans, 
160; 1. Corinthians, 183, 288; 
Epistles of John, 327 

—— 16, Romans, 136 

17, Genesis, 113; Psalms, 43; 
John, 363; John xv., 88; Romans, 
148, 160; uw. Corinthians, 345; 
Ephesians, 325; Philippians, 
108; Hebrews, 236 

—— 19, Romans, 173 

—— 22, Hebrews, 382 

—— 23, Romans, 179; u. Timothy, 
112; Hebrews, 254 

—— 24, Deuteronomy, 289; Psalm 
li., 60, 239; wu. Timothy, 272; 
Hebrews, 142; Peter, 65 





148 


ROMANS VIII. 25, Genesis, 202;| ROMANS XI. 21, m. Kings, ’ 


Philippians, 98 

— 26, Romans, 186; 
inthians, 169 

28, Deuteronomy, 10, 210; 
Esther, 37, 60, 347; Psalms, 
283; Psalm li., 113, 200; Isaiah, 
265; Isaiah xlix., 13; Matthew, 
288; Romans, 189; 1. Corinth- 
ians, 57; wu. Timothy, 10 

—— 29, Psalms, 178; Philippians, 
91 

— 30, Psalms, 226; Luke xiii., 
64 

— 32, Genesis, 160; Psalms, 
179; Romans, 191; 1m. Corinth- 
ians, 50; Ephesians, 12, 272; 
Hebrews, 49; Peter, 292, 334 

34, Isaiah, 215; Isaiah xlix., 

38; Matthew xviii, 88; Mark 

ix., 317; Ephesians, 145; Phil- 

ippians, 138, 245; Hebrews, 20, 

25, 81 


m. Cor- 








— 35, Romans, 198; wu. Cor- | —— 10, Romans, 261 
inthians, 108 — ll, Romans, 267 

—— 36, Romans, 203 —— 12, Romans, 273 

— 37, Genesis, 295; Deuter- | —— 13-15, Romans, 281 
onomy, 168; wu. Kings, 176; |—— 16, Romans, 287 
Romans, 200; wu. Corinthians, | ——— 17-18, Romans, 295 
294; Ephesians, 341; Hebrews, | —— 19-20, Romans, 300 
165; Peter, 278; Epistles of | —— 21, Deuteronomy, 366; 
John, 195 thew, 130; Romans, 300 

—— 38, Romans, 209 


— 39, Esther, 135; Psalm li, 
111; Romans, 189, 209 

ROMANS X. 6, Psalm li., 306; 
John ix., 385 

10, Matthew ix., 323; Phil- 
ippians, 377 

— 19, Acts, 239 

—— 21, m. Timothy, 280 

ROMANS XI. 1, Acts, 327 

—— 20, Matthew xviii., 237 





ROMANS VIII.—ROMANS XIII. 

















Isaiah xlix., 380; Mark ix., 
—— 22, Ezekiel, 249 
—— 29, u. Corinthians, 15 
—— 30, Luke xiii., 13 
—— 32, o. Samuel, 62 
—— 33, u. Corinthians, 279; P 

ippians, 311; Epistles of Je 

345 
ROMANS XIL 1, Exodus, 154, 

Esther, 227; Romans, 

Philippians, 69; 1. me 

53, 357; Hebrews, 312; Pe 

97; Epistles of John, 141, 305 
—— 2, m. Kings, 369; Rom 

230; Peter, 95 
—— 3, Romans, 240 
—— 4, 5, Romans, 245 
— 6, Matthew xviii, 62; 

mans, 252; 1. Corinthians, 1§ 
— 8, Deuteronomy, 397; 

mans, 252 
—— 9, Exodus, 247; Romans, 


ROMANS XIII. 8, 9, Romans, § 

10, Romans, 304; Phi 
pians, 281 

— 11, Romans, 304; 1 Cor 
ians, 154; Ephesians, 101 

—— 13, Romans, 304 

—— 14, Romans, 304; 
257 

— 12, John ix, 1; Rom 
304, 317; Ephesians, 257 ; 
brews, 6; Peter, 233 





ROMANS XIV.—SACRAMENTS 


149 





| ROMANS XIV. 1, Hebrews, 196 

— 3, Hebrews, 196 

—— 4, Mark ix., 186 

/— 6, o. Corinthians, 149 

-— 1, Deuteronomy, 151; Mait- 
thew, 273 

— 8, Psalm li., 121; Romans, 
211; 1. Corinthians, 71, 107 

_— 9, Epistles of John, 168 

— 1], Romans, 309 

| — 12, Romans, 317, 323 

— 13-21, Romans, 323 

/— 22, Psalms, 72; Romans, 
223; 1. Corinthians, 80; Peter, 
66 

ROMANS XV. 3, Ephesians, 302 

_— 4, Romans, 330 

— 13, Romans, 330, 344; Phil- 
ippians, 98; ou. Timothy, 370 

ROMANS XVI. 1, Philippians, 180 

— 2, Philippians, 179 

_— 3-5, Romans, 357 

| —— 13, Mark, 229 

_— 10, 11, Romans, 365 

| — 12, Romans, 374, 380 

_— 19, Philippians, 57 

— 20, Romans, 388 

| —— 22, Romans, 395 


p 










SABBATH after Creation, m. Tim- 

| othy, 316 

| ——Christ’s and Pharisees’, Mat- 

} thew ix., 163 

| —— command as to the, Exodus, 

| 105 

| — in Capernaum, Luke, 95 

—— and Jubilee year, Exodus, 269 

— observance of the, m. Kings, 
391; Luke xiii, 1 








ROMANS XVI. 23, Romans, 399 

ROME, armies of ancient, Genesis, 
288 

the Church in, Peter, 155 

— early Church in, Romans, 382 

fall of, Isaiah, 134 

Paul in, Acts xiii., 251, 377, 

383; Romans, 30 

ROYAL JUBILEE, the, Samuel, 
131 

ROYAL MURDERERS, Samuel, 
278 

ROYAL PROGRESS, a, Mark ix., 
109 

ROYAL SEEKER after wisdom, a, 
Samuel, 195 

RUINS repaired, um. Kings, 345 

RULE of the Road, mu. Corinthians, 
381 

RULER, the rich young, Matthew 
Xviii., 47; Mark ix., 74; Luke 
xiii., 140 

RUNAWAYS from Christ, Peter, 
222 

RUTH I. 14, n. Kings, 49 

RUTHERFORD, SAMUEL, Gene- 
sis, 250 











SABBATH, works which hallow the, 
Mark, 87 

SACERDOTALISM, John xv., 311; 
Acts, 32 

present-day, Epistles of John, 
401 

SACRAMENTARIANISM, Psalms, 
89 

SACRAMENTS, Christianity and 
the, 0. Samuel, 365 





150 


SACRIFICE, Christ our, Psalms, 
374; Matthew xviii., 243; John 
ix., 197 

—— perfection of the, Hebrews, 77, 
87 

— effects of, Hebrews, 85 

the Christian’s, um. Corinth- 

ians, 322; Hebrews, 323, 324 

feasting on the, Psalms, 86; 

Isaiah, 91 

for others, Hebrews, 196 

— Christ foreshadowed by, u. 
Kings, 236 

— of the body, Romans, 221 

—— of self, um. Kings, 161 

—a willing, ou. Corinthians, 
287 

SACRIFICES, human, Genesis 159, 
160 

Jewish, Exodus, 41 

and Christ, Exodus, 234 

—— spiritual, Peter, 92 

SADDUCEES, Christ and, Genesis, 
115; Matthew xviii., 135 

SAINT among Sinners, the, Gene- 
sis, 48 

—a Christian is a, Epistles of 
John, 1 

David as, ou. Samuel, 64; 
Psalm li., 16 

—an Old Testament, Deuter- 
onomy, 250 

‘SAINTS,’ Romans, 6; ua. Cor- 
inthians, 370; Philippians, 82 

SAINTS, defective, Isaiah, 305 

—— and Faithful, Ephesians, 1 

— God and His, Deuteronomy, 
40 

——God’s inheritance in the, 
Ephesians, 62 

— the mark upon the, Exodus, 
157 

—— punished, Psalm li., 222 




















SACRIFICE—SAMUEL 


SAINTS, worthy of the, PI 
pians, 179 
SAINTS’ DAYS, Romans, 12, 
SALT as a symbol, Mark ix., 64 
—— without savour, Matthew, 
SALVATION, common, Ephes 
98; Epistles of John, 87, 
— conditions of, Luke xiii, 
Romans, 59 4 
—— equality as to terms 
Acts xiii., 343 
— for all, Isaiah, 29; Rox 
26 j 
—— the Gospel of, Romans, 
— the great question as 
Acts xiii., 122 
—— guarded unto, Peter, 8 
—— the helmet of, Ephesiar 
—— its source, Ezekiel, 34 
—— mystery of divine, 
227 
—— offered, Isaiah, xlix., 149 
—— personal, m. Samuel, 62 
—— progressive, Hebrews, 90 
—— repentance and, u. Coril 
ians, 17 ; 
—— results of, m. Timothy, 2 
—— wellspring of, Isaiah, 64 
what is, Mark, 242; 
pians, 319 
SAMARIA, fall of, m. Kings, 34 
—— woe on, Isaiah, 125, 132 
—— the woman of, John, 204 
SAMARITAN, Christ sneered 2 
a, John, 374 
SAMARITANS, origin of 
Kings, 42 
SAMSON, Deuteronomy, 250 
— left by the Spirit, E: 
204 
SAMUEL, childhood of, Deu 
onomy, 267 : 
—— as prophet, Deuteronomy, ‘ 



























Deuteronomy, 311 
| -— and Saul, Deuteronomy, 299 
|| I, SAM. II. 3, Genesis, 131 
I, SAM. III. 1, Deuteronomy, 267 
_ — 2, Deuteronomy, 267, 282 
ee 3-8, Deuteronomy, 267 
|| ——9, Exodus, 129; Deuter- 
onomy, 267, 301, 334; Peter, 
218 
_— 10, Ephesians, 229 
| —— 11-14, Deuteronomy, 267 
_ — 18, Peter, 219 
I. SAM. IV. 1-18, Deuteronomy, 
| 275 
_-L SAM. VII. 1, 2, Deuteronomy, 
283 
| — 3, Deuteronomy, 276, 283 
| —— 4-11, Deuteronomy, 283 
| —— 12, Deuteronomy, 283 ; Mark, 
| 316; u. Corinthians, 122 
1. SAM. VIIL., Deuteronomy, 307 
| —— 4-8, Deuteronomy, 291 
| —— 9-18, Deuteronomy, 291, 310 
| ——19, 20, Deuteronomy, 291 
I. SAM, IX. 2, Deuteronomy, 309 
| —— 15-27, Deuteronomy, 299 
1 SAM. X. 8, Deuteronomy, 312 
—— 17-27, Deuteronomy, 307 
| IT, SAM. XI., o. Samuel, 4 
| — ll, Deuteronomy, 267 
— 15, Deuteronomy, 313 
— 18 Deuteronomy, 267 
I, SAM. XII. 1-11, Deuteronomy, 
311 
— 12, Deuteronomy, 302, 306, 


: 
311 
| 











—— 13-15, Deuteronomy, 311, 319 

— 16-25, Deuteronomy, 319 

-L SAM. XIV. 44, Deuteronomy, 
356 

I. SAM. XV. 10-21, Deuteronomy, 
323 








SAMUEL—II. SAM. VII. 


151 





|| SAMUEL, challenge and charge of, | I. SAM. XV. 22, Deuteronomy, 323 ; 


m. Samuel, 228 

— 23, Deuteronomy, 323, 403 

I. SAM. XVI. 1-13, Deuteronomy, 
332 

I. SAM. XVII. 28, Deuteronomy, 
338 

—— 32-51, Deuteronomy, 340 

I. SAM. XVIII. 5-16, Deuteronomy, 
348 

I. SAM. XX. 1, 2, Deuteronomy, 
354 

— 3, Deuteronomy, 354; 1. Cor- 
inthians, 386; Peter, 209 

—— 4-13, Deuteronomy, 354 

I. SAM. XXIII. 17, Deuteronomy, 
354 

I. SAM. XXIV. 4-17, Deuteronomy, 
361, 367 

—— 21-25, Deuteronomy, 367 

I. SAM. XXVI. 21, Deuteronomy, 
371; Acts, 225 

I. SAM. XXVIII. 15, Deuteronomy, 
372 

I, SAM. XXTX., o. Samuel, 8 

—— I, Deuteronomy, 400 

—— 3, Deuteronomy, 377 

I, SAM. XXX. 6, Deuteronomy, 
384 

—— 7-8, 0. Samuel, 3 

24, Deuteronomy, 392; Mat- 
thew ix., 119 

I. SAM. XXXII. 1-13, Deuteronomy, 
399 

II. SAM. II. 1-6, mz. Samuel, 1 

—— 7, Genesis, 84; ou. Samuel, 84 

— 8-11, m. Samuel, 1 

Ii. SAM. V. 1-12, o. Samuel, 8 

Ii. SAM. VI. 1-10, no. Samuel, 14 

— 11, uo. Samuel, 14, 21 

—— 12, nm. Samuel, 14 

II. SAM. VII. 4-11, o. Samuel, 30; 
om. Kings, 96 





152 


TI. SAM. VII. 12, m. Samuel, 30, 
154; o. Kings, 96 

— 13-16, uo. Samuel, 30; 
Kings, 96 

— 18-29, m. Samuel, 36 

I. SAM. VIIL. 3, o. Samuel, 50 

IL. SAM. IX. 1-13, m. Samuel, 42 

IL. SAM. X. 8-19, m. Samuel, 49 

IL. SAM. XII. 5-6, o. Samuel, 55 

—— 7, u. Samuel, 55; Philippians, 
148 

—— 13, u. Samuel, 64 

Il. SAM. XIV. 14, o. Samuel, 73 

IL. SAM. XV. 1-12, m. Samuel, 84 

—— 15, u. Samuel, 89 

—— 21, m. Samuel, 93, 97 

Il. SAM. XVL. 1-4, o. Samuel, 47 

—— ll, um. Samuel, 97 

II. SAM. XVII. 23, mo. Samuel, 113 

—— 27-29, m. Samuel, 45 

IL. SAM. XVIIL. 18-32, m. Samuel, 
106 

—— 33, om. Samuel, 106; Ephe- 
sians, 87 

I. SAM. XIX. 34-37, mo. Samuel, 
113 

I. SAM. XXII. 17, Exodus, 19 

—— 40-51, m. Samuel, 119 

II. SAM. XXIII. 1-2, o. Samuel, 
125 

—— 3, 4, m. Samuel, 125, 131 

— 5, Genesis, 110; mu. Samuel, 
125 

— 6-7, m. Samuel, 125 

— 15-17, m. Samuel, 141 

II. SAM. XXIV. 24, Romans, 398; 
Philippians, 70 

SANBALLAT, nu. Kings, 356 

SANCTIFICATION, Hebrews, 86, 
91. See also Holiness and Per- 
fection 

SANHEDRIN, | the, 
Apostles, Acts, 180 


wm. 


and the 


II. SAM. VII.—SCHOOL 


SARAH and Abraham, 
155, 183 
SARCASM of Amos, Ezekiel, 15 
SARDIS, the Church in, Ex 
of John 233, 243 
SATISFACTION, complete, F 
li., 385; John xv., 144, 155 
—— devout, Isaiah, 200 
——in Christ, Epistles of 
399 
— in God, Psalms, 241, 
Isaiah, 309 
—— heavenly, Psalms, 66 
—— thirst and, Psalm li., 73 
—— what gives? Psalms, 92 
SAUL, King, Deuteronomy, 3 
372 
—— and David, Deuteronomy, 
—— death of, eererseis.« ( 
—— deposition of, Deuteror 

























— rejection of, Deute: 
323 


—and Samuel, Deutero: 


—— to serve, m1. Corinthians, 
SAVIOUR, the mighty, Isaiah 
218 
— or Teacher? John, 143 
SAVOUR, salt without, Matth 
178 
SAYCE, PROFESSOR, quote 
Genesis, 255, 258 ; m1. Kings, 27 
SCAPEGOAT, the, Exodus, 254 
SCEPTICISM, antidote to, Psal 
li., 318 ‘ 
SCHOLARS of the Spirit, John i 
369 
—— slow, Mark, 302 
SCHOOL of grace, the, m. 
140 





SCHOOLING—SEEKING 


SCHOOLING, a Reformer’s, um. 
Kings, 326 

SCIENCE, Genesis and, Genesis, 2 

— and revelation, Psalm li., 307 

SCOTTISH REFORMATION, 
hymns of, 0. Kings, 83 

SCRIBES and Christ, Luke xiii., 
310 

SCRIPTURES, daily reading of, 
Psalm li., 293; Peter, 273 

— incompleteness of, John xv., 
328 

— last words of, Epistles of John, 
39 

—— misread, Ezekiel, 100 

—— the silence of, John xv., 327 

— accommodating the, Epistles 
of John, 128 

—— anthropomorphisms in, Gene- 
sis, 56, 60, 66 

— historical accuracy of, Gene- 
sis, 243 

—— the Holy Spirit and the, John 
xy., 119 

— picking bits out of the, John, 
294 

—— preservation of, m. Kings, 62 

—— private judgement and the, 
Acts xiii., 40 

—— purpose of the, John xv., 336 

—the, and recent discoveries, 
Hebrews, 1 

SCRUPULOSITY, Romans, 324, 
329; Hebrews, 196 

SCRUTINY, God’s, Psalm li., 360 

SEA as an emblem, John, 269; 
Epistles of John, 355 

— and the beach, John xv., 347 

— Christ and the, Mark ix., 299 

—- Christ controls the, John, 275 

——earth, and sky, parable of, 
Psalms, 227 


——— no more, Epistles of John, 355 | 


153 





SEA, a parable from God, Psalms, — 
227 

—a path in the, Exodus, etc., 
52 

SEAL and Earnest, 1. Corinthians, 
287 

—— and foundation, the, mo. Tim- 


othy, 68 

SEARCH that always finds, the, 
oo. Kings, 147 

SECOND COMING,  Christ’s, 


Psalms, 121; Ezekiel, 261; Luke 
xiii, 210, 397; John ix., 276; 
Romans, 5; Hebrews, 207 

SECRET of courage, the, Deuter- 
onomy, 384 

—— of gladness, Mark, 70 

—of immortal youth, Isaiah, 
276 

—— of power, Matthew ix., 352 

— of tranquillity, Psalms, 252 

—— of victory, u. Kings, 129 

of well-being, Esther, 84 

SECTARIANISM, Genesis, 
125 

SECURITY, devout, Isaiah, 200 

SEED among thorns, Luke, 236 

and diverse soils, Mark, 129; 

Luke, 229 

scattered and taking root, 
Acts, 235 

— sown, gifts given, Philippians, 
66 

‘ SEEING is believing,’ u. Samuel, 
381; John, 98 

—— and blind, Matthew ix., 230 

SEEK and find, ou. Kings, 152; 
Psalms, 146, 148, 152 

SEEKER, a royal, Samuel, 195 

— Christ as, Esther, 132; Mat- 
thew xviii., 27; John, 75 

SEEKING and struggling, Psalma 


213 





88, 








154 
SELF, the Anarch, m. Corinthians, 
85 


—— mutilation of, for preservation, 
Matthew xviii., 9 

—— praise of, is deceptive, Esther, 
198 

—— purification of, m. Corinthians, 
2 

SELF-ASSERTION, Christ’s, Luke, 
87; Luke xiii, 335; John ix., 
285 

SELF-COMPLACENCE, dangers 
of, Luke xiii., 310 

SELF-CONCEIT, divisive, Romans, 
293 

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS, Christ’s, 
John, 314, 365 

SELF-CONTROL, Romans, 226 

— Christian, 1. Corinthians, 149; 
Timothy, 14 

SELF-CULTURE and social ser- 
vice, Philippians, 226 

SELF-DECEPTION, Isaiah, 312 

SELF-DENIAL and power, Mat- 
thew ix., 371 

duty of, Luke, 183 

— need of, um. Timothy, 154 

SELF-DISTRUST, Matthew, 280; 
Matthew xviii, 234; Mark ix., 
184 

SELF-EXAMINATION, 
73 

SELF-FORGETFULNESS,David’s, 
m. Samuel, 141 

SELF-RESTRAINT, 
Deuteronomy, 242 

—— enjoined, Esther, 376 

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, Luke, 
199 

—— dangers of, Luke xiii., 310 

SELF-SACRIFICE for example’s 
sake, 1. Corinthians, 166 

—— and liberty, Romans, 326 





Psalms, 


need of, 


SELF—SERVANT-LORD 



















SELF-WILL, the end of, Deu 
onomy, 399 
—— man’s sinful, Ezekiel, 126 
SELFISHNESS, curse upon, Esthy 
20 ' 
— sin of, Deuteronomy, 181 
SENNACHERIB, army of, 
stroyed, m. Kings, 56; : 
235, 241 
SENSUALITY, effect of, 
xiii., 311 
SENTENCE which condemned t 
judges, Matthew xviii., 310 
SEPARATENESS of Christians a1 
world, mo. Kings, 368; F 
xlix., 77, 85; Ezekiel, 104; 
xv., 198; Epistles of John, 30 
SEPTUAGINT, the, Isaiah, 146 
SERAPHIM, the, Isaiah, 19, 
SERENITY, faith gives, Ti 
othy, 20 
SERMON ON THE MOU! 
obeyed, Genesis, 204; Matthe 
98, 352, 363; Luke, 126 
SERMON, Peter’s first, Acts, 59 
xiii., 202; Romans, 13 
SERPENT, the brazen, John, 1 
SERPENTS, fences and, Esthe 
372 
—— the fiery, Exodus, 362 
SERVANT as his Lord, 
338 
—— equipment of the, 
358 
SERVANT-LORD and His 
vants, Isaiah xlix., 15-38 ; 
thew xviii, 71; Luke, 
John ix., 180 


[7 


| _ SERVANT OF THE LORD—SHIPWRECK 


155 





BERVANT AND SON, the, John, 
350 
_ SERVANT OF MEN, x. Corinthians, 
lime 142 
| SERVANT OF THE LORD, the, 
Isaiah xlix., 15-38, 51, 200, 297 
SERVANT, THE SUFFERING, 
i, il, iii, iv., v., vi., Isaiah xlix., 
ay 20, 92-117 
SERVANTS AND STEWARDS, 
Luke, 373 
_ — the trading, Luke xiii., 163 
_ SERVICE, Christ seeks personal, 
! m. Corinthians, 86 
dignity and, Mark ix., 90 
: — follows cleansing, Isaiah, 43 
— is a gift, Exodus, 352 
: — and healing, Matthew, 386; 
Mark, 32 
—— and honour in the Church, u. 
Timothy, 81 
— the pattern of, Mark, 273 
— sacrifice of, Peter, 98 
and salvation, 0. Corinthians, 
350 
— seraphic, Isaiah, 34 
— and gratitude, Psalm li., 44 
—— and vision, Isaiah, 18 
— the warfare of Christian, Exo- 
dus, 297 
SESSION, Christ’s heavenly, He- 
brews, 21, 201; Epistles of John, 
317 
SEVEN eyes of Slain Lamb, Epistles 
of John, 322 
— spirits of God, Ezekiel, 300 
SEVENTY disciples sent out, Luke, 
312 
SEVERITY and gentleness of 
Christ, Matthew xviii., 116 
— and goodness, u. Kings, 73 
SEXES, equality and interdepend- 
ence of, Genesis, 5 





SEXES, relationship of the, Exodus, 
112 

SHADOW, life as a, Psalms, 269 

of death, Psalms, 100 

SHADRACH and his brethren 
tested, Ezekiel, 40, 55 

SHAKESPEARE quoted, Genesis, 
25, 261, 325 

SHAPHAN, uu. Kings, 63; 1. 
Kings, 265 

SHEBA, Queen of, m. Samuel, 195 

SHECHEM, the national oath of, 
Deuteronomy, 183 

SHECHINAH, the, Exodus, 251 

SHEEP among wolves, John, 49 

and goats, Genesis, 16; John 
ix., 49 

— the lost, Matthew xviii., 19 

SHELTERING WING, the, Psalm 
li., 184 

SHEPHERD, Christ our, Psalms, 
105, 365; Matthew ix.,45; John 
ix., 24, 35, 40 

— death as, Psalms, 365 

and the fold, the, Exodus, etc., 











61 

— God is our, 
Psalms, 96 

man needs a, Matthew ix., 45 

— one fold and one, Samuel, 8 

—— the risen, Hebrews, 337 

—— the seeking, Matthew xviii., 19 

SHEPHERD-KING, the, Deuter- 
onomy, 332; Psalms, 95 

— and the stone, the, Genesis, 
295 

SHEW-BREAD, Exodus, 126 

SHIELD, God as a, Genesis, 111 

—of faith, the Christian’s, 
Ephesians, 361 

SHILOAH, Isaiah, 45 

SHIPWRECK, Paul and, Acts xiii., 
363 


Genesis, 300; 





156 


SHIRLEY, James, quoted, Gene- 
sis, 329 

SHOES, the prodigal son’s, Luke 
xiii., 71 

a soldier’s, Deuteronomy, 67 ; 
Ephesians, 353 

SHUNEM, the lady of, n. Samuel, 
353 

SHUT OUT, why? Philippians, 
150 

SICHEM, Genesis, 69, 75 

SICKNESS, sin as, Ezekiel, 108 

—— a sermon after long, Romans, 
13 

SIEGE of Jericho, the, Deuter- 
onomy, 132 

SIGHT and blindness, Samuel, 376 

‘SIGN,’ a, o. Kings, 57 

the rainbow as, Genesis, 60, 65 

— miracles as a, John, 252 

SIGNS of God’s will, Deuteronomy, 
233 

SILENCE before God, Psalm li., 66 











xiii., 206 

— Christ’s, Matthew xviii., 288, 
312; Mark ix., 213; Luke xiii, 
294; John xv., 84, 250 

—— concerning an interview, Luke 
xiii., 369 

—— building in, Samuel, 172 

eloquent, m. Kings, 283 

—— guilty, Psalm li., 298; Ezekiel, 
177; Matthew xviii., 284; Acts, 
158 

—— impossible, Acts, 153 

—— of Scripture, John xv., 327 

—— of Christians, Samuel, 390 

SILOAM, tower of, Genesis, 136 

SIMEON’S swan-song, Luke, 55 

SIMON, the Cananean, Mark, 111 

— the Cyrenian, Mark ix., 229, 
238 





benefits from human, Acts | —— consciousness of, m. Samue 




















SIMON MAGUS, m. Kings, 
Acts, 240, 242 
SIMON PETER (see Peter), John, ¢ 
‘SIMPLICITY,’ 1m. Corinthians, 
—— towards Christ, m. Corinthi 
65 
SIN defined, Exodus, 202; F 
196 
— is abominable, Isaiah 
378 
—— Achan’s, Deuteronomy, 145 
—as bondage, Isaiah, 246 
Isaiah xlix., 71; John, 342, 
Romans, 124; uw. Corinthi 
117 
— Christ’s authority to forgive 
Mark, 61 
—— Christ’s claim to forgive, 
123 
—— Christ cleanses from, John ix. 
187 
—— Christ condemning, Rom 
130 


71; Isaiah, 21; Matthew, 27 
277 
consequences of, Genesis, 8; 
Esther, 184; Isaiah, 9 
cords of, Esther, 123 








—— death and, Genesis, 45 
—— as debt, Psalms, 132 
— as disease, Ezekiel, 108 ; 
262 
—— deceitfulness of, mu. Timo 
285 
—— dread of, Matthew, 279 
—— essentials of, Isaiah, 318 
—— fiery serpent a type of, E 
366 
—— foreseen by God, nm. Kings, 3 
—— and forgiveness, Exodus, 199 





SIN—SINGING 


157 





_ SIN, future punishment of, Esther, 
128, 149, 151 

— and grace as queens, Romans, 
105 

—— growth and power of, Genesis, 
14 

— hides from God, Isaiah, 37 

— and ignorance, Esther, 181 

— as iniquity, Psalms, 196 

—— increasing hold of, Genesis, 
144 

— Israel’s, Ezekiel, 114 

— lames men, Isaiah, 219 

— Love’s triumph over, Mark ix., 
284 

— is missing the mark, Genesis, 
82 

— the mocker, Esther, 181 

— is nakedness, Isaiah xlix., 
175 

— names for, Psalm li., 2 

— negative, Isaiah, 77 

— an octopus, Esther, 126 

— origin of, Genesis, 5, 12 

— overcome, Esther, 129; Psalm 
l., 82 

—— is personal, nm. Samuel, 59, 63 

—memory of pardoned, a 
motive, Samuel, 84; Mark ix., 
305 

— as poison, Esther, 379 

— power over, John xv., 316 

—— progeny of, m. Kings, 5 

— punishment of, u. Samuel, 

' 72, 221; Esther, 128, 149, 151; 
Ezekiel, 338 

— and ransom, Exodus, 169 

—— is rebellion, Psalm li.,.5 

—the regenerated life 
Epistles of John, 17 

-— is rejecting Christ, John xv., 
101 

— remedy for, Romans, 49 


and, 





SIN, results of, Genesis, 22; Luke, 
90 





sense of, in Judaism, Exodus, 

257 

separates from God, Genesis, 

20; Ezekiel, 148 

slavery of, Exodus, 

Esther, 183; John, 345, 353 

and sorrow, u. Kings, 229; 

Matthew ix., 10 

sorrow for, om. Corinthians, 9 

teaching on, in Bible and 

bibles, Romans, 47 

tyranny of, Romans, 131 

— universal consciousness 
Psalms, 108 

— universality of, Isaiah xlix., 
252; Romans, 48, 53; Philip- 
pians, 318; Epistles of John, 235 

the unpardonable, Mark, 125 

— as a veil, Isaiah, 86, 92 

— veils itself, Matthew xviii., 280 

—— is voluntary, Isaiah,8; Ezekiel, 
125 

SINS, fleshly and secret, Ezekiel, 
3; I. Corinthians, 55; Peter, 126 

—— innumerable, Psalms, 280 

open, Psalms, 76 

of Society, the, 

Malachi, 157 

Scripture names of, Exodus, 








292; 














of, 








Ezekiel- 








200 

small, Esther, 282 

weights and, Hebrews, 186 

SINATI, feast on, Isaiah, 90 

—— the new, Matthew, 97 

SIN-BEARER of the world, John, 
40 

SINFULNESS and poverty, Esther 
167 

SINGING, antiphonal, Psalms, 112 

—— in prison, Acts xiii., 118 

and waiting, Psalm li., 54 











158 


SINLESSNESS, Christ’s, Isaiah 
xlix., 110 

SINNER, place for the, Luke, 117 

SINNERS, the chief of, Philippians, 
326 

—— all men are, Exodus, 170 

—— Christ the Friend of, Matthew 
ix., 131; Luke, 184 

—— deepest, may rise, Mark ix., 
305 

—— equality of, m. Samuel, 361 

— God sees all, Genesis, 52 

—— the Saint among, Genesis, 48 

SISTERS, Christian, Romans, 376 

SKY, bridal of earth and, Psalm li., 
148 

—— earth, and sea parable, Psalms, 
227 

—a parable from God, Psalms, 
227 

SLANDER on Christ, Matthew ix., 
131 

SLANDERERS of Paul, m. Cor- 
inthians, 57 

SLAVE, a black, Isaiah xlix., 375 

— the Christian as Christ’s, Acts, 
169; Romans, 367; 1. Corinth- 
ians, 297; wu. Corinthians, 190; 
Peter, 215 

—— girdle of the, Peter, 130 

—— in New Testament, Luke, 58 

— saved, Isaiah xlix., 375 

— God’s, Exodus, 279; 
xiii., 119 

emancipated, Exodus, 291 

SLAVERY, Christianity and, Peter, 
215 

—— Jewish law and, Exodus, 279, 
281 

SLEEP, Christ in, Mark, 159 

— death as, Psalms, 57; Acts, 
234; 1. Corinthians, 210; Philip- 
pians, 216 


Luke 





SINLESSNESS—SOLDIER 

















267 
—— the sluggard’s, Esther, 
SLEEPERS at noonday, Ephesi 
318 ; 
SLEEPING in Christ, Luke 3 
331 


SLUMS, a. Kings, 347 
SMALL-HOLDINGS, Esther, 1 
SNAKE, a crushed Romans, 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS, Christia 
and, Acts xiii., 279 
—— —— the Church and, Heb 
9 
SOCIAL REFORM, churches 
u. Kings, 337, 343 
—— —— and sin, Luke, 268 
SOCIAL SERVICE and self-cr 
ture, Philippians, 226 
—— the outcome of 
Exodus, 133 








—— destruction of, Genesis, 148 
—— King of, Genesis, 113 
—— Lot and, Genesis, 90 
SOIL, kinds of, m. Timothy, 34§ 
—— diverse, seed on, Mark, 
Luke, 229 
SOJOURNERS of the Dispersic 
Peter, 1 
with God, Exodus, 269 
SOLDIER, the Christian’s armo' 
as, Epistles of John, 337-380 — 





SOLDIER—SOUL 





ILDIER, the Christian as, 1. 
_ Timothy, 46 


_— morning callof the, Romans,317 
—- the charge to the, Deuter- 
% onomy, 91 
-SOLDIER-PRIEST, Psalms, 239 ; 
Isaiah xlix., 80 
_ — a faithful, u. Samuel, 99 
— shoes of a, Ephesians, 353 
_ —— veteran’s counsel to, 0. Tim- 
__ othy, 1 
_ SOLDIERS, drill and zeal of Chris- 
tian, 0. Kings, 87 
- —— mock Christ, Mark ix., 225 
eeLIDARITY of communities, I 
Kings, 338, 343 
ot the race, Isaiah xlix., 374 
_ SOLITARINESS, Christ’s, John ix., | 
212 
_—— unnecessary, Genesis, 51 
SOLITUDE, the value of, Exodus, 
_ 27; Ezekiel, 144 
ge David 
_ Samuel, 148 
— David's charge to, I. Ses 
98, 101 
— the fall of, Samuel, 201 
—his choice of wisdom, 1. 
Samuel, 155 
— offerings of, 0. Kings, 298 
— provides for worship, u. Kings, 
 i1l4 
_— reign of, m. Samuel, 162 
_— the temple-builder, m. Samuel, 
- 31 
SON OF MAN, the, John ix., 150 
_ — and servant, the, John, 350 
SONS AND HEIRS of God, 
_ Romans, 148, 174 
— — unrevealed future of, 
Peter, 301 
———— revelation of, Romans, 173 











appointing, 








159 


SONG, importance of sacred, m. 
Kings, 83 
and husbandman, Esther, 174|——- my strength and, Exodus 


61 

—— of deliverance, a, Psalms, 351 ; 
Psalm li., 39 

of Moses and the Lamb, 
Epistles of John, 341 

SORROW according to God, u. 
Corinthians, 8 

blessed, Matthew, 121 

—— Christ as companion in, 1m. 
Timothy, 343 

and Christian growth, Peter, 











33 





consolation in, 
267 

—— joy after, Isaiah xlix., 198 

— a lodger only, Psalms, 156 

—— near to joy, H. Kings, 382 

— the peacable fruits of, Esther, 
33 

—— prolonged, John ix., 76 

and sin, 0. Kings, 229; Mat. 
thew ix., 10 

—— transfigured, Psalms, 162 

—— turned to joy, John xv., 131 

SORROWS and hopes, Ezekiel, 97 

the Man of, Isaiah xlix., 96; 

Matthew xviii., 262 

relieved by service, Luke xiii., 
147 

—— sympathy with, ou. Kings, 
335 

SOUL, anchor of the, u. Timothy, 
394 

—— gazing on God, Isaiah xlix., 
311 

—— habitation of, Psalm li., 192 

perfection of, 0. Corinthians, 
369 

—— a prosperous, Epistles of John, 
54 


Philippians. 

















SOUL, remonstrance with, Psalms, 
300 

—— winning one’s, Hebrews, 104 

tragedy of a, Deuteronomy, 
348 

SOULS, a ransom for, Exodus, 
168-170 

resurrection of dead, Ephe- 
sians, 81 

‘SOUND WORDS,’ u. Timothy, 
26 

SOURCE of power, the, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 291 

—— of hope, Romans, 77 

SOVEREIGNTY, Jesus Christ’s, 
Acts, 256 

—— the victor’s, Epistles of John. 
312 

SOWER, parable of, Genesis, 91 ; 
Mark, 139; Luke, 229 

SOWING, the divine, Isaiah, 153 

and reaping, Genesis, 26 

—and ripening, Matthew ix., 
201 

SPANISH ARMADA, destruction 
of, Exodus, 59 

SPARROWS and altars, Psalms, 
122 

SPEAKING, Jesus Christ is, om. 
Timothy, 276 

SPEECH, Paul’s, 
Acts xiii., 283 

sins of, Esther, 162 

SPIES, the twelve, Exodus, 332, 
346 

SPIRIT, God is a, Peter, 248 

—— of the Law, the, Deuteronomy, 
24 

—— of life, and dry bones, Ezekiel, 
26 

—— of power, the, m. Kings, 24 

SPIRITS AND STARS, Lord of 

the, Epistles of John, 232 











before Felix, 

















SPIRITUAL WORLD, 
of, Genesis, 321 









of, Epistles of John, 170 
—— contemplating the, m. 
othy, 212 





STATESMAN, the ideal, Exc 
88 

STEALING, what is it ? 
112 

STEDFASTNESS, cause of, 1 Gx 
inthians, 278 

STEPHEN, Acts, 203 

—— death of, Acts, 226 

—— and James, Acts, 367 

—— vision of, Acts, 212 

STEWARD, gains of the fe 
Luke xiii., 92 

STEWARDS, God’s, Matthew, 
tm. Timothy, 35 

STEWARDSHIP, Christian, Ac 
174; om. Timothy, 40 

—— life as, Exodus, 270; Ia 
xiii. 175; mo. Timothy, 106 ~ 

—— of wealth, Romans, 283 

STOCKTAKING, the, Mark, 313 

STONE, Messiah as the, Ezekiel, 
285 

—— of Israel, the, Genesis, 295 

—— of stumbling, Matthew xvii 
116 y 

STONES crying out, Deute 
115 

—— living, Peter, 86 

STONED and deified, Acts 
65 

STONING, death by, Acts, 230 




















STORM—SUPERSTITION 


161 





STORM, Christ in the, Matthew ix., 
304 

— Jonah and Paul in, Ezekiel, 180 

— stilled, Mark, 158 

— stillness in, Luke, 349 

—— Christ in the world’s, Matthew, 
412 

*STRAIGHTWAY, Mark’s word, 
Mark ix., 203 

STRAIT, St. Paul in a, uo. Cor- 
inthians, 219 

STRANGER in the earth, Psalm li., 
300 

STREAM, one, 
Romans, 330 

‘STRENGTH,’ Psalm li., 136 

— and beauty, Ezekiel, 132 

— beauty, purity, Ezekiel, 139 

—— divine, imparted, Hzekiel, 239 

—— from joy, 1. Kings, 390 

—— gentleness succeeding, Samuel, 
340 

— God’s, Esther, 147 

— profaned and lost, Deuter- 
onomy, 250 

— and song, my, Exodus, 61 

—to soar, run, walk, Isaiah, 
283 

— youthful, Peter, 269 

— in weakness, u. Corinthians, 
74, 

STRUGGLING and seeking, Psalms, 
213 

STUBBORNNESS, sin of, Genesis, 
127 

STUDENTS, weary, Esther, 384 

STUMBLING, without, Epistles of 
John, 108 

STUPIDITY of godlessness, Isaiah, 


two fountains, 


7 
SUBMISSION, Psalms, 329 
— filial, Matthew xviii., 264 
— immediate, Acts xiii., 102 


SUBMISSION to God, Psalms, 259 

— two kinds of, Psalm li., 243 

SUBSCRIPTION LIST, an old, 
Exodus, 213 

SUBSTANCE, a better and an 
enduring, Hebrews, 92 

SUBSTITUTION (see Atonement) 

SUCCESS as a test of truth, Acts, 
201 

SUFFERERS, Bible the book for, 
Romans, 332 

SUFFERING, Christ perfected in, 
um. Timothy, 212 

necessity of Christ’s, Matthew 
ix., 336 i 

—— with Christ, Romans, 160 

— Christ our example in, Peter, 
112 

— purpose of Christ’s, nu. Tim- 
othy, 236 

sharing Christ’s, u. Corinth- 
jans, 342 

SUMMARY of His work, Christ’s, 
John xv., 210 

— of Israel’s history, Deuter- 
onomy, 192 

SUN as symbol, Deuteronomy, 220 

smiles on all, Isaiah xlix., 339 

stayed, the, Deuteronomy, 153 

SUNDAY, the Christian, Exodus, 
107 

— holiday and holyday,u. Kings, 
394 

—— the last, in year, Mark, 310 

SUNDAY-TRADING, uu. Kings, 
393 

SUNSHINE, continual, Psalm li., 
169 

SUPERFICIALITY and truth, 
Acts xiii., 339 

SUPERSTITION, Christianity and, 
Acts, 243 

errors of, Mark ix., 151, 154 

















162 


SUPPLIANT, promises for the, 
Psalm li., 210 

SUPPLIES, the divine, Isaiah, 207 

SUSANNA, Luke, 219 

SWAN-SONG, Simeon’s, Luke, 55 

' SWEARING, sin of, Matthew, 208 

SWEATED INDUSTRIES, 
Samuel, 145 

SWORD, a battle without a, 
Deuteronomy, 244 

— of the Lord, Isaiah, 380 

—— of the Spirit, the, Ephesians, 
373 

—— and trowel, m. Kings, 360 

SYLVANUS, Peter, 138 

SYMBOL, the Lord’s Supper as a, 
1. Corinthians, 174 


T 


TABERNACLE, Christ the true, 
John, 135 

— lessons of the, Exodus, 224 

— symbolism of, Exodus, 135 

TABERNACLES, feast of, Exodus, 
264; Isaiah, 65 

—— Peter’s wish for three, John, 14 

TACITUS, Amos and, Ezekiel, 171 

TACT, Esther’s, Esther, 24 

TALENT, the man of one, Esther, 
174 

— why it was buried, Matthew 
Xviii., 205 

TALENTS, parable of the, Mat- 
thew xviii., 195, 205 

— use of our, Esther, 12 

TALITHA CUMI, Mark, 194 

(ARES, parable of the, Matthew 
ix., 234 

—— and wheat, Acts, 172 

TARRYING, the duty of, John xv., 
396 


SUPPLIANT—TEACHING 













SYMBOLS of the Spirit, the fo 
fold, Acts, 48 
— a vision of, Ezekiel, 280 
SYMBOLISM, terms of, John 3 


—— Christian, Peter, 163 
—— gratitude for, Philippians, 6 
—— love and, Romans, 285 
—— of God, Isaiah xlix., 220 
— union by, Romans, 368 
—— with sorrow, um. Kings, 336 
SYNTYCHE, Acts xiii., 106 
SYRO-PHENICIAN woman a 
Christ, Mark, 268; Mark ix., 


TAUNTS at Christ, Matthew 
323, 332 
— turned to testimonies, 
thew xviii., 332 
TE DEUM, the, Psalms, 119 


— in the New Testament, 
mans, 256 

—— or Saviour, Christ, John, 

—— the patient, Mark, 302 

—— qualifications for a Christi 
Romans, 17 

TEACHER-SPIRIT, the, John 
361 ' 

TEACHING, standard of Chris’ 
Timothy, 30 

—compleuon of Christ’s, 
xv., 111, 142, 151 

—— definite, Romans, 115 


TEACHING—TENT 


163 





(TEACHING, St. Paul’s earliest, 
Philippians, 237 

— scriptural, Timothy, 28 

TEARS, Christ dries, Luke, 147 

— Christ’s, Luke xiii., 187 

— Esau’s vain, Hebrews, 227 

— strong crying and, Mark ix., 
187 

— wiped away, Psalm li., 40 

TEMPERANCE, Paul’s reasons for, 
Ephesians, 313 

TEMPEST, the first blast of the, 
Acts, 129 

—— and trust, Acts xiii., 348 

TEMPLE, the, and altar, u. Kings, 
282 

—as symbol, 
Psalm li., 359 

— the boy Christ in, Luke, 62 

— building the, Samuel, 30; 
tm. Samuel, 167 

— building the 
Samuel, 174 

— built silently, m. Samuel, 172 

— Christ builds the, Ezekiel, 302, 
319 

— Christ the true, 0. Samuel, 
35; John, 133 

— Christ in the, Matthew xviii., 
93 

_ — Christ cleanses the, Mark ix., 
117; John, 123 

— David and Solomon’s, 1m. 
Kings, 97 

— dedication of, m. Samuel, 175 

—— divisions of the Jewish, Mat- 
thew xviii., 341 

— a dwelling-place, Isaiah xlix., 
315 

_ —the founder and finisher of, 

Ezekiel-Malachi, 301 


Exodus, 135; 


heavenly, 1. 


TEMPLE, Paul in the, Acts xiii., 
240 

polluted, Isaiah xlix., 400; 

Ezekiel, 7 

rebuilding the, Ezekiel, 249, 

258 

repairing, 0. Kings, 20 

restored by Josiah, 0. Kings 

260 

and river, Ezekiel, 33 

veil of the, rent, Matthew 
Xviii., 341 

—— vessels of, m1. Kings, 281 

watchers in, Psalm li., 349 

Zerubbabel rebuilds the, 1. 
Kings, 283, 293 

TEMPLES of God, 1. Corinthians, 
47 





























and tents, Genesis, 84 

TEMPTATIONS of Christ, Mat- 
thew, 77; Luke, 78; Romans, 
164 

— Christ’s many, Luke xiii., 232 

— Christ prays for those in, 
Luke xiii., 241 

the first of Christ’s, no. Tim- 

othy, 285, 292 

how conquered, Exodus, 49 

are provings, Genesis, 153 

—— the Fall and, Genesis, 7 

— of ministers, Philippians, 362 

of youth, Psalm li., 282 

TEMPTRESS, lies of the, m. Tim- 
othy, 285 

TENANTS, dishonest, Mark ix., 137 

and owners, Luke xiii., 190 

TENDERNESS of Christ, Mark, 
28; John ix., 174 

God’s wounded, Ezekiel, 152 

TENNYSON, A., quoted, Genesis, 
119, 331; Exodus, 19 




















~— God’s presence in, 0. Samuel, | TENT and building, 1. Corinthians, 


190 


333 


164 
TENT, the city and the, Hebrews, 
120 


— human life like a, Hebrews, 127 
TENTS and temples, Genesis, 84 
TERAH, Genesis, 70 

TERROR used by Isaiah, Isaiah, 
100 

TERTIUS, Romans, 395 

TERTULLUS, Acts xiii., 281 

TEST case, a, Philippians, 335 

—— for conduct, Philippians, 258 

—— Gideon’s, Deuteronomy, 236 

—— manna used as a, Exodus, 67 

—of conduct, a Christian’s, 
Epistles of John, 281, 295 

TESTS for God’s promises, Psalms, 
232 

TESTIMONY, an apostolic, Peter, 
146 * 

—— duty of, Exodus, 51; Matthew, 
377; Luke xiii., 381; John, 159; 
Acts xiii., 163; 1. Corinthians, 
132; Hebrews, 384 

—— need of, m. Kings, 351, 354 

—— required, nm. Samuel, 390 

TESTIMONIES, taunts turning to, 
Matthew xviii., 332 

THADDEUS (Judas), Mark, 110 

* THANK YOU,’ how to say, Phil- 
ippians, 58 

THANKFULNESS, continual, Phil- 
ippians, 235 

—— duty of, Philippians, 112 

THANKSGIVING, Christ’s strange, 
Matthew ix., 148 

‘THAT DAY,’ joys of, John xv., 
150 

THEATRE, Christians and the, 
Luke, 183 

THEISM, bare, n. Timothy, 49 

THEME of the Acts, Acts, 8 

— the Apostles’, 1. Corinthians, 
19 


TENT—I. THESS. V. 














THEOLOGY, ‘dry,’ Romans, 10 

—early, and faith, Genesi 
42 

—— of experience, the, 1. 
inthians, 213, 287 

—— and obedience to Christ, A 
xiii., 331 


I. THESS. I. 3, Philippians, 155 _ 

— 8, Exodus, 139; Philippian 
242 

—— 9, Philippians, 243 

—— 10, Philippians, 241 

I. THESS. II. 2, Acts xiii., 133 

—— 8, Mark, 5 

—— 9, Acts xiii., 135 

—— 12, Philippians, 170 

—— 13, Philippians, 247 1 

I. THESS. IL, 6, Acts xiii., 151 
Philippians, 183 

— ll, Philippians, 239 

I. THESS. IV. 3, Philippians, 23¢ 

—— 9-10, Philippians, 183 

— ll, John xv., 349; 
pians, 183 

—— 12, Philippians, 183 

—— 13, Philippians, 183,197 

—— 14, 1. Corinthians, 214; Phi 
ippians, 183, 190 

—— 15, Philippians, 183 

— 16, Deuteronomy, 140; 


ippians, 183 

— 17, Genesis, 191; 
pians, 183 

— 18, Luke xiii., 335; 
pians, 183 


I. THESS. V. 1, Philippians, 183 
—— 2, Philippians, 183, 246 
—— 6, Philippians, 210 
— 7, Exodus, 168; Philippi 

199, 217 


I. THESS. 


V.—TIME 165 





I, THESS. V. 8, Genesis, 322; Philip- | THORN in the flesh, Paul’s, m1. Cor- 


pians, 198 
— 9, Philippians, 240 
-—10, Mark ix., 269; 
pians, 210, 242 
— 11, Philippians, 220 
— 16-18, Philippians, 229 
— 20, John xv., 119; Romans, 
190 
— 23, Psalms, 84 
—— 24, Deuteronomy, 3; u. Tim- 
othy, 61 
— 27, Philippians, 237 
I. THESS. I. 1, Philippians, 238 
— 10, Philippians, 248 
— 1], Philippians, 256 
— 12, Philippians, 249, 256 
If. THESS II. 13, Philippians, 259 
— 16, Philippians, 97, 257, 267 
— 17, Philippians, 267 
If. THESS. ITI. 2, Deuteronomy, 4 
— 5, Philippians, 277 
— 16, Philippians, 288 
THESSALONICA, Philippians, 237 
—— and Berea, Acts xiii., 131 
THIEF, the dying, Luke xiii., 306 
*‘THINE IS THE KINGDOM,’ 
Matthew, 289 
THINK on these things, Philip- 
pians, 48 
THIRST, Christ satisfies, 
313; Epistles of John, 394 
— of the soul, Isaiah, 182 
— and satisfaction, Psalm li., 73 
THIRSTING for God, Psalms, 
289 
THIRSTY, the call to the, Isaiah 
xlix., 134 
“THIS CUP,’ Matthew xviii., 243 
“THIS WAY,’ Acts, 269 
THOMAS, Mark, 110; John xv., 
338 
—— and Jesus, John xv., 317 


Philip- 


John, 


inthians, 74 

THORNS, seed among, Luke, 236 

‘THOU ART THE MAN !’ Samuel, 
55 

THOUGHT and action, Philip- 
pians, 54 

action, character, Philippians, 





54 





deed, word, Exodus, 46 

THOUGHTS, evil, Isaiah xlix., 155 

— God searches our, Psalm li., 
364 

— God’s, Isaiah xlix., 152 

—— of dying prisoner, nm. Timothy, 
100 

THREATENINGS, Bible, John xv., 
17 





promises and, Samuel, 189 

THRESHING, the divine, Isaiah, 
153 

THRIFT, Esther, 226 

enjoined by Christ, John, 264 

THRONE, Christ’s last invitation 
from the, Epistles of John, 391 

—the Christian’s, Epistles of 
John, 319 

of grace, 1. Timothy, 333 

‘THY KINGDOM COME,’ Mat- 
thew, 244 

‘THY WILL BE DONE,’ Matthew, 
253 

TIDINGS, good, Isaiah, 251 

TILLAGE, God’s, 0. Timothy, 355 

TIME, Ephesians, 327 

economy of, Peter, 200 

elasticity of, Psalm li., 145 

for God to work, Psalm li., 
306 

— God helps at right, John ix., 78 

redeeming the, Ephesians, 327 

—— is unaffected by man’s wishes, 
Deuteronomy, 154 




















v2 


166 


“ TIMES’ of human life, m. Kings, | II. TIM. L. 14, m. Kings, 319; 


106 


TIMELESSNESS of God’s love, | IL TIM. IL. 3, Esther, 230 


Romans, 215 

TIMOTHY, Philippians, 361 

Paul and, m. Corinthians, 295 ; 
um. Timothy, 7, 95 

I. TIM. I. 5, Philippians, 298 

— 11, Mark, 5; Philippians, 308 ; 
wu. Timothy, 317 

— 15, Philippians, 
u. Timothy, 67 

— 16, Philippians, 335, 348 

— 17, Philippians, 344 

I. TIM. IT. 4, Mark, 309 

— 5, Philippians, 270 

—— 8, Philippians, 353 

I. TIM. II. 7, Ezekiel, 71 

—— 16, Isaiah xlix., 86 

I. TIM. IV. 2, Luke, 116 

— 7, Acts xiii., 194; Philippians, 
361 

—— 8, um. Kings, 213; Hebrews, 
125; Epistles of John, 60 

— 14, Acts, 242 

L. TIM. VI. 8, Matthew, 272 

— 10, o. Samuel, 374 

—— 12-14, Philippians, 370 





316, 326; 


— 19, Matthew, 301; Philip- 
pians, 379 

— 20, u. Kings, 318; ou. Tim- 
othy, 36, 106 


IL. TIM. I. 1-6, a. Timothy, 1 

— 7, Ephesians, 135; om Tim- 
othy, 1,7; Peter, 355 

— 10, Psalms, 54; uo. Timothy, 
103 

—12, Deuteronomy, 38; 1. 
Kings, 323, 325, 388; Acts, 225; 
Ephesians, 41; uo. Timothy, 16, 
35, 271, 373; Hebrews, 106, 
281 

— 13, uo. Timothy, 26 


‘ TIMES ’—TITUS II. 


xlix., 81; m. Timothy, 35 


—— 4, Esther, 174; 
150; u. Timothy, 45 
—— 6, Esther, 174 








—— 13, Deuteronomy, 4, 323; 
Timothy, 58 

—— 19, u. Timothy, 68 

—— 20, u. Timothy, 77 

—— 21, Exodus, 221; mo. Timothy 
77 

—— 24, nm. Samuel, 344 

I. TIM. IIL. 4, m. Timothy, 87 © 

— 5, u. Samuel, 367; ou. Ti 
othy, 86 

—— l4, u. Timothy, 2 

Il. TIM. IV. 1-5, m1. Timothy, 95 — 

—— 6, u. Timothy, 100 

—7, Exodus, 305; Acts, 2: 
1. Corinthians, 361; Ephes' 
373; Philippians, 330, 
u. Timothy, 22, 100, 124 

—— 8, Isaiah, 136; Ephe 
199; wu. Timothy, 100, 
Hebrews, 374 

10, n. Timothy, 114 

— ll, Acts xiii., 25; mo. Time 
114 

—— 14, m. Timothy, 4 

—— 16, nu. Timothy, 95 

— 17, Ezekiel, 82; uo. Time 
95, 126 

—— 18, Psalms, 213; om. 
23, 95, 124 

—— 21, Peter, 200 

TITLE on the Cross, John xv., 25 

TITUS IL. 10, m. Timothy, 132 

—— 1l, nu. Timothy, 140 

— 12, Philippians, 161; m. Ti 
othy, 140, 149, 168 








‘TITUS I. 13, Philippians, 97; a. 
f Timothy, 158 
—14, Deuteronomy, 
_ Timothy, 171, 180 
TITUS Il. 4-6, n. Timothy, 191 
— 5, Ephesians, 257 
_-— 8, nu Timothy, 189 
TOBIAH, u. Kings, 356 
TOIL, the curse of, Matthew ix., 155 
_— vain, Ezekiel-Malachi, 249 
TOLERANCE enjoined, Mark ix., 
50 
-— enthusiastic, o. Corinthians, 
216 
_ —— wise and unwise, Psalm li., 326 
-— wicked, m1. Kings, 42 
TO-MORROW, none are sure of, 
Isaiah xlix., 162 
— the unknown, Acts, 23 
‘TONGUE, evil, Esther, 208 
“TOO LATE!’ Esther, 231 
TOTAL ABSTINENCE, Esther, 96, 
99 
‘TOUCH of faith and touch of Christ, 
_ Matthew ix., 29 
— or faith ? Mark, 213 
- that cleanses, the, Matthew, 373 
TRADERS for the Master, Matthew 
 ‘Xviii., 195 
— expelled, Luke xiii., 188 
— servants as, Luke xiii., 163 
TRADING on Sunday, Kings, 393 
TRAGEDY, a soul’s, Deuteronomy, 
348; om. Kings, 184; Luke xiii., 
286 


29; a. 





G of man, God’s, Deuter- 
onomy, 41, 44 
TRANQUILLITY, secret 
Psalms, 252; Hebrews, 299 
TRANSCIENCE of earth’s beauty, 
Esther, 343 
— of the world, Peter, 280 
— of gifts, 1 Corinthians, 187 


of, 


TITUS II.—TRIBULATION 


167 





TRANSFIGURATION, Christ’s, 
Matthew ix., 1, 343; Luke, 286 

prayer and, Luke, 277 

TRANSFORMATION by behold- 
ing, I. Corinthians, 307 

—— by Christ’s death, Philippians, 
214 

TRANSFORMED by ‘ considering’ 
Christ, u. Timothy, 259 

TRANSGRESSION, Psalms, 80; 
Psalm li., 3 

— sin as, Psalms, 196 

and Christ’s sufferings, Isaiah 
xlix., 100 

TRANSLATION of Elijah, Gene- 
sis, 44; Samuel, 333 

——-——-and the Ascension of 
Christ, the, Samuel, 322 

— of Enoch, Genesis, 39, 43 

TRANSPLANTING, growth by, 
Genesis, 272 

TREASURE from God, man’s true, 
Psalms, 30 

— in man, God’s true, Deuter- 
onomy, 29 

and pearl, Matthew ix., 251 

TREASURES, guarded, um. Kings, 
317 

and hearts, Matthew, 302 

—— two kinds of, Matthew, 299 

TREE of life, the, Epistles of John, 
387 

—— by river, Isaiah xlix., 302 

TREES, good and bad, Luke, 135 

harvest fruit from, Exodus, 
264 

TRIAL by fire, the, Samuel, 253 

of the righteous, m. Kings, 
244 

TRIALS AND VISIONS of Yonth, 
the, Genesis, 234 

TRIBULATION of 
Epistles of John, 157 




















Christians, 


TRIBUNALS, the three, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 74 

TRIBUTE from enemies, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 68 

— a royal, Acts xiii., 272 

TRIFLES, greatness of, Mark ix., 
239 

—— weighty, Esther, 280 

TRINITY, the, Paul and doctrine 
of, Epistles of John, 10 

— persons in the, John xv., 
69 

TRIUMPH of love, Romans, 209 

— of faith, test and, Genesis, 152; 
Isaiah, 235 

— the servants’, Isaiah, 31 

TRIUMPHANT CERTAINTIES, 
the Christian’s three, Epistles of 
John, 12-29 

TRIUMPHANT END, Luke xiii., 
372 

TROPHIES, Christ’s, 1 Corinth- 
ians, 303 

TROUBLE, rest from, John ix., 
261 

—— where to carry, Isaiah, 242 

TROUBLED, promises for the, 
Psalm li., 210 

TROWEL and sword, wu. Kings, 
360 

TRUMPET of God, a, Philippians, 
165 

TRUMPETS and street corners, 
Matthew, 220 

‘TRUST,’ Isaiah, 112 

—— answer to, Psalm li., 201 

—— blessed, Psalms, 139 

— is faith, Psalms, 221; Psalm 
li, 35; Isaiah xlix., 40 


















TRUST or faith, m. Kings, id 4 
— the foundation of, aln 
16 
—— in God, Matthew, 313 
—— meaning of, peony 
—— a picture of, Psalm li., 188 — 
—— teaching of, Exodus, 277 
—— and tempest, Acts xiii., 
TRUSTEESHIP of wealth, B 
283 
TRUTH, buy the, Esther, 247 
—— faithfulness to, uo. Kin 
364 
— fellow-workers with 
Epistles of John, 90 
—— for a new epoch, old, Deu 
onomy, 319 
—— the girdle of, Ephesians, 3 
—— and grace, John, 31 
—— the guide into all, John x 
110 ‘ 
— Jesus Christ is the, John i 
286 
men of, Exodus, 91 
— and mercy, Psalm li., 149 
—— penetrates, Romans, 366 
—— its preservation and diffusi 
u. Timothy, 37 ; 
—— superficiality and, Acts x 
339 
—— which renews, Epistles of Joh 





Epistles of John, 83 
TRYPHENA, Romans, 374 
TRYPHOSA, Romans, 374 
TYRANNY of sin, Rom 

131 
TYRE, Paul at, Acts xiii., 217 


a ti 


UNBELIEF— UNTIL THAT DAY’ 


U 


UNBELIETF, attacks by systems of, 
Isaiah, 144 

— the credulity of, Mark ix., 151, 
178 

—— example of, Exodus, 343 

—— hampers, Romans, 21 

— hinders, Mark ix., 26 

— restlessness of, u. Timothy, 
328 

—— weakens, Matthew ix., 366 

— worldly, John xv., 100 

UNCHANGEABLENESS of divine 
love, Isaiah xlix., 334; Romans, 
210 

—of Christ, Ezekiel-Malachi, 
349; Hebrews, 285 

UNCONSCIOUSNESS, blessed and 
tragic, Exodus, 204 

UNFULFILLED DESIRE, 
Exodus, 371 

UNION, the Lord’s Supper a sign 
of, Epistles of John, 131 

— of living and dead in Christ, 
Philippians, 217 

— with Christ, Romans, 
Ephesians, 112 

— with God, 1. Corinthians, 115 

UNION JACK, the, uo. Kings, 
299 

UNITARIANS, their use of ‘ Jesus,’ 
Matthew, 18 


an, 


171; 


UNITED STATES, founders of the, 


Exodus, 104 

UNITY, Christian, ou. Kings, 360; 
John xv., 204; Romans, 289 

— of churches, Epistles of John, 
203 

—— of the Church, Peter, 155 

— a plea for, 1. Corinthians, 244 ; 
1. Corinthians, 246 


169 


UNITY of all classes in Christ, 
Romans, 369, 375, 381, 401; 
Ephesians, 217 

of Christians, Romans, 246 

—— the threefold, Ephesians, 203 

— the true, 391 

of apostolic teaching, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 225 

UNIVERSALITY of duty, Romans, 
23, 26 

of grace, m. Thessalonians, 144 

— of Christian privileges, Ro- 
mans, 9 

of Christ, John, 381 

of Christ’s glory, u. Corinth- 

lans, 262 

of Christ’s work, John ix., 

140 

of God’s mercy, Deuteronomy, 
140 

—— of Gospel, Matthew ix., 150, 
156, 291; Mark, 270; Mark ix., 
308; Luke, 173; John, 26 

Pentecost and, Acts, 47 

— of the Holy Spirit’s work, 1 
Corinthians, 178 

of salvation, Isaiah xlix., 279 

—of sinfulness, Romans, 48, 
53; Ephesians, 235 

UNIVERSE, Christ rules the, John, 
274 

moral order of the, Esther, 
148 

UNREACHED CLASSES, the, 1. 
Kings, 352 

UNSEEN, looking at the, 1. Cor- 
inthians, 323 

reality of the, Genesis, 40 

‘UNTIL THAT DAY,’ Matthew 
XViil., 252 



































170 


UNTRODDEN PATH and the 
Guiding Ark, the, Deuteronomy, 
99 

UPPER ROOM, the, Mark, 110, 
171, 175 

—— —— dispute in, John ix., 180 


Vv 


VARIATIONS in Church history, 
Isaiah xlix., 56 

—— religious, Psalm li., 204 

VARIETY in the Spirit’s working, 
Acts, 51 

—— of divine blessing, Psalms, 333 

—— the results of divine presence, 
Isaiah, 211 

—— and order in service, 0. Kings, 
85 

VEIL over all nations, the, Isaiah, 
92 

—— rent, the, Matthew xviii., 341 

—— sin asa, Isaiah, 86, 92 

“ VENGEANCE,’ divine, Psalm li., 
218 

VESSELS of desire, expectancy, 
and obedience, m. Samuel, 346 

—of a great house, o. Tim- 
othy, 77 

VETERAN, counsels of a, m. Tim- 
othy, 1 

VICE, yoke of, Isaiah xlix., 326 

VICTOR, the Christian as, Epistles 
of John, 332 

life-crown of the, Epistles of 

John, 196 

life-food of the, Epistles of 
John, 187, 207 

—— life-names of the, Epistles of 
John, 275 

—— life-power of the, Epistles of 
John, 223 








UNTRODDEN PATH—VINEYARD 


UR of the Chaldees, Genesis, 7 

USES of Memory, religious, 
310 

UZZAH, sin of, m. Samuel, 18 

UZZIAH, reign and death 
Isaiah, 24 


VICTOR, life-robe of the, Ep 
of John, 250 






VICTORIA, Jubilee of Queen, r 
Samuel, 131; Acts xiii., 272 
—— sermon on death of, Luke xiii. 
224 
VICTORY by divine help, m. Kir 


—— David’s hymn of, Samuel, 

— hope and, Isaiah, 259 

love gives the, Romans, 

209 

of unarmed faith, the, Deuter 

onomy, 340 

and peace, John xv., 179 

—— repentance and, Deuteronom 
283 

—— secret of, m. Kings, 129 

VIGILANCE, duty of, mo. Timothy, 
41 

VINDICATION of God by 
future, Hebrews, 147 

VINE, the true, John xv., 1 

branches of the, Joht 











xv., 10 
VINEYARD and its keepers, 
Matthew xviii., 107 








VINEYARD—WANDERER 


171 





| VINEYARD parable of the, Mark 


ix., 137, 144; Luke xiii., 190 


- VIRGIN birth ot Jesus, Matthew, 7 


VIRGINS, parable of, Matthew 
xviii., 175, 181, 189 


_ —the graces as, 0. Timothy, 





359 


' VIRTUES, diligent addition to, 


Peter, 203 


: VISION, the beatific, Isaiah, 31 


VISION OF CHRIST, Christian 
life and the, 1. Corinthians, 308, 
324 

— Jacob’s, Genesis, 208 

— of creation, the, Genesis, 1 

— of God, conditions of a, Mat- 
thew, 157 

—— —— the true, John ix., 291 

— of judgement and cleansing, 
Ezekiel-Malachi, 280 

— and service, Isaiah, 18 

— Stephen’s, Acts, 212 

—the transforming, 
161 

— of Amos, Ezekiel, 169 

VISIONS of devout youth, Genesis, 
234 


Hebrews, 


VOICE, God’s, and man’s echo, 
Hebrews, 277 

hearing Christ’s, mu. Timothy, 
275 

—— refusing God’s, Hebrews, 268 

— from heaven, Isaiah, 244, 251 

VOLUNTARINESS, Christ’s, John 
xv., 162, 224 

VOLUNTARYISM, duty of, wu. 
Kings, 203 

VOLUNTARY SERVICE needed, 
u. Kings, 352 

sufferings, 
Isaiah xlix., 22 

VOW, a forgotten, Genesis, 233 

a loyal, Samuel, 89 

a rash, John ix., 241, 243 

lightly uttered, Matthew, 402 

a penitent, Ezekiel, 129 

VOYAGE, how to secure a prosper- 
ous, Acts xiii., 97 

of Paul and Luke, Acts xiii., 

348 

symbolism of a, John, 269, 
279 

VULTURES and carrion, Matthew 
Xviil., 157 





the 





Servant’s, 




















WwW 


WAGES of the world to a prophet, 
Tsaiah xlix., 361 

WAIL of a broken heart, the, 
Samuel, 106 

WAITING, God’s 
Isaiah, 159 

— and singing, Psalm li., 54 

WAKING and sleeping, Philip- 
pians, 210 

— the, after death, 1. Corinth- 
jans, 213 


and man’s, 


‘WALK’ in the Spirit, m. Cor- 
inthians, 153 

—— with God, Genesis, 32, 39; 
Psalm li., 269 

worthily, Philippians, 170 

WALL, building the, nu. Kings, 372 

city without a, Ezekiel- 
Malachi, 273 

WALLS and gates, Isaiah xlix., 188 

WANDERER, a, recalled, Mark 
ix., 286 








172 


WANDERING, _ sin’s 
Isaiah, 226 

WAR, the end of the, Deuteronomy, 
175 

expense of, Ezekiel, 331 

and murder, Exodus, 111 

— unchristian, Psalms, 70 

WARFARE, the Christian’s, Exo- 
dus, 74; Deuteronomy, 206; 
mm. Samuel, 268 ; Isaiah xlix., 85 ; 
Hebrews, 210 

of Christian service, 
Exodus, 297 

WARMTH in religion, Isaiah, 171, 
192 

WARNING, Esau as a, Hebrews, 
229 

—the last merciful, Exodus, 
33 

—— a parting, John ix., 162 

— Christ’s, to healed man, John, 
243 

— asad, John xv., 168 

WARNINGS and hopes, u. Cor- 
inthians, 391 

—— love’s, Isaiah xlix., 356 

WARRIOR-PEACE, the, Philip- 
pians, 39 

WATCH, a, on the door of the lips, 
Hebrews, 431 

WATCHERS at the Cross, Matthew, 
xviii., 325 

—— the earthly, Isaiah, 200 

—— in the temple, Psalms, 349 

WATCHFULNESS, u. Kings, 321 

— enjoined, Luke, 375; Hebrews, 
272 

— need of, Psalm li., 285 

—— rewards of, Matthew xviii., 170 

WATER as an emblem, John, 206, 
214; Acts, 55 

—— salvation as, Isaiah xlix., 135, 

149 


pathless, 











the, 


WANDERING—WEALTHY CLASSES 



























WATER, living, Psalms, 331 
—— made wine, John, 110, 114 
—— of life, the, Isaiah, 69 
—— and the rock, the, John, 3 
WATERS, healing the, a. Sam 
344 
—— of Meribah, Exodus, 353 
WAVES of righteousness, Isaiah 
—— of Time, the, nm. Kings 106 
— Peter on the, Matthew i 
305 
WAY, the, John ix., 281 
—— Christianity the, Acts, 269 
—— a cleansed, Psalm li., 281 
—— everlasting, Psalm li., 368 
—— guidance in the, Genesis, 1i 
—— of the Lord, the, Esther, 
— of wisdom, Esther, 101 
—— to the city, the, Esther, 3§ 
WEAKNESS and its cure, Sam 
261 
—— the look of, Psalm li., 340 — 
—— the stay for, Epistles of Johi 
106 : 
—— wicked, Luke xiii., 296 
— and wickedness, Isaiah 
358, 366 
WEALTH, the best of, Peter, 2 
—— danger of, Matthew xviii., 5 
Luke xiii., 143. See also Rici 
—— distribution of, Esther, 88 
—— as a fortress, Esther, 213 
regulative principles of Chris’ 
ian, Romans, 283 ; 
selfish, Isaiah, 14 
—— surrendered, Acts, 174 
—— true, Esther, 172 
—— two kinds of, Luke xiii., 84, 
—— use of, Philippians, 384 
—— and wisdom compared, Es 
91 








WEAPONS of Christian warfare, 
Exodus, 301 

WEARINESS of life, Esther, 383 

WEAVER of character, man as a, 
Epistles of John, 383 

WEDDING-GARMENT, without 
the, Matthew xviii., 127 

WEIGHTS and sins, 
186 

WELCOME, the early, Matthew, 89 

WELL-BEING, secret of, Esther, 
84 

WELL-SPRING 
Isaiah, 64 

WELLS dug by Isaac, Genesis, 204 

WESLEY, Charles, his ‘ Wrestling 
Jacob,’ quoted, Genesis, 224, 
228 

—— —— hymn by, a. Kings, 145 

WESLEY, JOHN, Exodus, 7 

— —— quoted, Genesis, 19 

WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 
dus, 95 

WESTMINSTER CATECHISM, 
the, Genesis, 186 

‘WHAT THEN ?’ Esther, 237 

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? 
Ephesians, 281, 295 

WHEAT and tares, Acts, 172 

WHEN shall these things be? 
Luke xiii., 204 

WHERE are the wise? Luke xiii., 
127 

WHITE ROBES, Epistles of John, 
243, 251, 339 

—— —— walking in, Epistles of 
John, 243 

WHITHER goest thou? John ix., 
235 

WHITSUNTIDE, meaning 
Hpistles of John, 92 

—a sermon for, Ezekiel, 197; 
1. Corinthians, 178 





Hebrews, 


of salvation, 


Exo- 


of, 


WEAPONS—WINGS 


173 

WICKED, prosperity of, Psalm li., 
108 

WICKED ONE, overcoming the, 
Peter, 276 

WICKEDNESS 
Isaiah xlix., 358 

WIDOW, Elisha helps a, m1. Samuel, 
345 

—— an importunate, Luke xiii., 132 

of Nain, Jesus and the, Luke, 
148 

WILL, the Christian’s, Peter, 271 

— discerning God’s, Acts xiii., 
99 

—— the fixed, Psalm li., 50, 71 

— God’s and man’s, Acts xiii, 
366 

— man’s free, Acts xiii., 333 

of God, best for us, Genesis 

127 

of God, the, Matthew, 253 

—— offering of the, u. Kings, 162 

power of man’s, Luke, 174 

reinforced, Esther, 121 

resistance by human, Exodus, 

356 

the, and salvation, Epistles of 
John, 307 

WIND as a symbol, Acts, 48 

God’s use of the, Exodus, 55 

and spirit, John, 154 

WINE from water, John, 114 

—— of salvation, Isaiah xlix., 135, 
149 

WINEBIBBER and _ gluttonous 
man, Luke, 178 

WINEPRESS, the, and its treader, 
Isaiah xlix., 221 

WING, the sheltering, Psalm li, 
184 

of God, what men find be- 
neath, Psalms, 240 

WINGS, a seraph’s, Isaiah, 29 


and weakness, 
































174 


WINNING and losing, Hebrews, 99 | WOES uttered by Christ, } ' 


* WISDOM,’ Hebrews, 362 


74, 76, 81, 88, 91 

—— the call of, Esther, 77 

— and Christ, Esther, 136 

— divine, and how to get it, 
Hebrews, 360 

and Folly, Esther, 204 

-— heathen, and Christ, Mat- 
thew, 20 

—— how obtained, Hebrews, 360 

-— of God, Christ as the, Esther, 
102 

—a royal seeker after, Samuel, 
195 

—— Solomon’s, m. Samuel, 158 

— the way of, Esther, 101 

—— a young man’s wise choice of, 
Samuel, 154 

WITH, BEFORE, AFTER, God, 
Genesis, 32; um. Kings, 208 

* WITHOUT STUMBLING,’ 
Epistles of John, 108 

* WITNESS,’ John’s use of, Epistles 
of John, 115 

WITNESS, the Christian as, m. 
Samuel, 392 

— of the Christian’s life, Hebrews, 
143 

— of the life, Exodus, 138 

of the Resurrection, Romans, 1 

— of the Spirit, John xv., 71; 
Romans, 136. See also Assur- 
ance 

WITNESSES, apostolic, Acts, 28 

— Christ’s, Luke xiii., 379; Acts 
xiii., 254 

— to Jesus, Luke, 73 

— Christians as, John xv., 76; 
Acts xiii., 164, 257; Philippians, 
375; Epistles of John, 79 

— the cloud of, Hebrews, 166 








WINNING—WORDS er. 


xviii., 142 








—— Israel as a, Isaiah xlix., I’ 
—— Joab’s wise, 1. Samuel, 74 
— place of, in ristian 
Romans, 355, 359, 381 , 
—— place of, in Church, Rom 
353, 382 
—— reverence for, Exodus, 
—— a virtuous, Esther, 158, 
— with an issue of blood, " 
Luke, 242 : 
WOMEN at Christ’s tomb, 
251 
—— degraded, Ezekiel, 2 q 
—— duty of, to children, Exod 
16 x 
—— ministry of, Luke, 217 ay 
—— rights and duties of, Re 
‘WORD,’ three meanings of, P: 
li., 293 ‘ 
WORD, THE, descent ot 
inthians, 253 ay 
—— in eternity, John, 1 
—— in the world, John, 1 
—— the, that scatters fe 


‘WORD OF GOD, 
374 

—— —— the, Peter, 262 

WORD, THOUGHT, DEED, 
dus, 46 Z. 

WORD AND DEED, 
Mark, 22 , 

WORDS, farewell, Philippians, 7 


WORDS—WORLD 


175 








_ WORDS, Christ’s, from the Cross, 

Luke xiii., 301 
— last, Ezekiel, 363 

; the last apostle, 

Epistles of John, 39 

_—— parting, Acts xiii., 203 

—— to the weary, Isaiah xlix., 15 

WORDSWORTH, W., quoted, 
Exodus, 9 

WORK, acceptable Christian, Exo- 
dus, 218 

— authority and, Mark ix., 157 

— Christ's summary of His, 
John xv., 210 

— Christ’s, and ours, John ix., 
301 

— Christ’sunfinished and finished, 
John xv., 268 

—— condition of Christian, John 
ix., 308 

— crowned by its end, Esther, 363 

— our daily, m. Kings, 115 

— duty of constant, Exodus, 96 ; 
John xv., 349 

— and faith, m1. Corinthians, 268; 
Philippians, 387; wu. Timothy, 
308; Hebrews, 415 

—for Christ is 
Mark ix., 244 

— for God lasts, Genesis, 76, 84 ; 
Exodus, 9 

— God’s, is continuous, John, 242 

— preparations for a_ great, 
Samuel, 166 

— enjoined, Esther, 232 

— many labours in a great, Exo- 
dus, 10 

— of children of the day, Philip- 
pians, 198 

— of God, how to work the, John, 
280 

—and rest, the hallowing of, 
Exodus, 321 


 — — of 


remembered, 


WORK and salvation, m. Corin- 
thians, 268 

and prayer, Isaiah xlix., 210 

—— tests of, 1. Corinthians, 39 

—— unnoticed, Acts, 260 

unrecorded, Matthew ix., 55, 








65 





worship and, Esther, 350 

WORKS, good, and creation, Ephe- 
sians, 114 

maintaining in good, o. Tim- 

othy, 189 

merit by, Isaiah xlix., 151 

— no merit in, Psalm li., 374 

of beneficence on Lord’s Day, 
Matthew ix., 168; Mark, 87 

—— of darkness, Ephesians, 303 

our, and God’s, Ephesians, 108 

variety of, Exodus, 220 

zeal for good, u. Timothy, 
180 

WORKER, Christ as, Mark, 165 

WORKERS and companions with 
Christ, Epistles of John, 74 

— the heavenly, Isaiah xlix., 200 

humble, Romans, 396, 400; 

Peter, 140 

unknown, Acts xiii., 227, 237; 
Philippians, 11 

—— unnamed, Luke, 228 

WORKMAN, the patient divine, 
1. Corinthians, 343, 346 

‘WORLD, the, m Kings, 368; 
Romans, 237; Peter, 280; 
Epistles of John, 26 

— Old Testament meaning of, 
Esther, 335 

bread of the, Matthew ix., 
282; Mark, 262 

— Christ as the food of, Isaiah, 
83 

— Christians as lords of the, L 
Corinthians, 70 





























176 


WORLD, Christians as dew in, 
Ezekiel, 226 

—— faith conquering the, Epistles 
of John, 1 

the, hates Christians, John xv., 
50, 58 

— as Christ saw it, John xv., 58 

how conquered? Epistles of 

John, 2 

the light of the, John, 319 

—— peace-bringer in the natural, 
Matthew, 412 

—— question of the, Isaiah, 190 

—— the saint and the, Genesis, 50 

—— the sin-bearer of the, John, 40 

—— spiritual, peace-bringer into, 
Matthew, 416 

— the Word in the, John, 1 

WORLDLINESS, entangling, m 
Timothy, 56 

—— present-day, 
383 

—— religion of, m. Kings, 46 

— and the inward life, Hebrews, 
316 

—— sin of, John xv., 200 

WORLDLY, the wisdom of the, 
Luke xiii., 76 

WORSHIP, absence from, John xv., 
318 

—— Cain’s, Genesis, 15 

— Christian, Psalms, 89 

— early Church, Romans, 360; 
t Corinthians, 2 

— conduct and, Peter, 326 

—— daily, m. Kings, 118 

— directory of public, Philip- 
pians, 353 











Romans, 378, 


WORLD—XERXES 


WORSHIP, divided, m. Kings, 
—— formal, nm. Timothy, 91 
—— kinds of, Romans, 227 
—— lessons for, and work, E 
350 
—— longing for, Psalms, 289 
—— in the new temple, u. 
294 
—— public, ritual in, Exodus, Il 
—— pure, Hebrews, 397 : 
—— real, Ezekiel, 6; um. Cori 
ians, 320 ‘ 
— Solomon’s, u. Kings, 114 — 
—— work blended with, Genesi 
72 







—of your calling, Philippian 


WRATH, divine, Isaiah, 192 
holy, Exodus, 180 

— Naaman’s, Samuel, 359 
—— of God, Psalms, 133 
WRECK, after the, Acts xiii., 3 





— 


WRESTLE, the two 
with Jacob, and Jacob’s 
God, Genesis, 222 

WRITING blotted out, 
317 

—— the, on God’s hands, 
xlix., 49 


XERXES, see Ahasuerus 










YEAR, the Feast of Ingathering 
_at the end of, Exodus, 115 
YEARS, two fruitful, Acts xiii., 168 
OKES of wood and iron, Isaiah 
-xiix., 322 

| OUNG, a caution to, Psalms, 64 

_ —confidence for the, Psalm li., 
91 


) 





= the old judge and the, Deuter- 


ie 


- onomy, 299 


324 

_ —sermon to, um. Samuel, 112, 
249, 268; Psalm li., 281; Isaiah 
xlix., 257; John ix., 81; John 
xv., 382; Acts, 217; Acts xiii., 
287; Philippians, 48; Peter, 269 


_ ZACCHAUS, Luke xiii., 148, 151 
ZACHARIAS, Hymn of, Luke, 
ph 24 

_ —and Elisabeth, Luke, 2 

_ ZEAL, Christian, m1. Timothy, 181 
_ +— impure, u. Kings, 6 

i. partisan, Exodus, 243 

_ *ZEALOUS,’ Epistles of John, 
i 290 

_ ZECHARIAH as prophet, Ezekiel, 
264, 273, 280, 300 





YEAR—ZECH. III. 


M 


Y 


YOUNG, thirst of the, Psalms, 291 

YOUNG MEN as dew, Psalm li., 
250 

best 
Esther, 71 

YOUNG PEOPLE’S SOCIETY OF 
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR, 
Philippians, 114 

YOUTH and age, m1. Kings, 290 

and commands, John xv., 





counsellor _ for, 





382 - 

a critical time, m. Kings, 258 

features of, Mark ix., 264 

freedom and plasticity of, 

John xv., 383 

secret of perpetual, Deuter- 

onomy, 164; Isaiah, 2763 

Mark ix., 258 

should say ‘No,’ o. Kings, 

366 

the trials and visions of 
devout, Genesis, 234 

YOUTHFULNESS in age, Exodus, 
95 























ZECH. I. 5-6, Ezekiel, 264 

— 9, Ezekiel, 296 

— 19, Ezekiel, 296 

ZECH. II. 4, Ezekiel, 273 

— 5, u. Samuel, 224; WHzekiel, 
273 

— 8, Deuteronomy, 38 

ZECH. III. 1, Ezekiel, 280 

— 2, uo. Samuel, 117; Ezekiel, 
280 

—— 3, Ezekiel, 280 


178 


of John, 382 

—— 5-6, Ezekiel, 280 

ZECH. III. 7, Ezekiel, 280, 287 

—— 8-10, Ezekiel, 280 

ZECH. IV. 1-5, Ezekiel, 294 

— 6, Ezekiel, 294; Epistles of 
John, 181 

— 7, Exodus, 11; Ezekiel, 
294 

—— 8, Ezekiel, 294 

— 9, Ezekiel, 294, 301 

10, Ezekiel, 294; Epistles of 
John, 237 

ZECH. VI. 13, Ezekiel, 309 

ZECH. IX. 9, Matthew, 71 

ZECH. XII. 8, Exodus, 13 

ZECH. XIII. 7, John ix., 37 

ZECH. XIV. 7, m. Timothy, 108 





ZECH. III.—ZOAR 


ZECH. Ill. 4, Ezekiel, 280; Epistles | ZECH. XIV. 20, Exodus, 151; 









Kings, 167; Peter, 95 
—— 21, Exodus, 156 
ZEDEKIAH, Isaiah xlix., 357 
— the weak, Isaiah xlix., 366 
ZEPHAN. IIL. 14-17, E 

Malachi, 245 
ZERUBBABEL, m. Kings, 

293 ; Ezekiel, 257, 298, 301 
ZIBA, 1. Samuel, 46 
ZION as evangelist, Isaiah, 256 
—— the glory of, Psalms, 353 
—— impregnability of, Isaiah, 2 
—— joy of, Ezekiel-Malachi, 245 
— mountains round fou: 





















































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